Mega Man X: The Eleventh Hour Revised Edition
by Force1295
Summary: Peace is finally brought to Earth through the blood and sacrifices of many. The peace is short-lived as a new foe awakens a war unlike anything X could fanthom. In the end, X has a choice, revenge against the murderer of his Father or save Mankind.
1. Dark Horizons

Dark Horizons

With the tragic loss of Zero, X took his faithful companion's beam saber to always remember him and carried on finishing the fight that his faithful companion and him started. Fighting with his friend's beam saber, X knew that Zero's spirit could finally rest in peace and a new age of Reploid freedoms would be ensnared. After fighting back the hordes of what seemed like a never-ending army, X stood victorious and sighed a sigh of relief having finished his job. He could now wash the blood from his hands and work to rebuild civilization.

Many decades had past since that day... The Earth was restored and life was allowed to live once more upon its lands. Through the work of many valiant Reploids, civilization was finally rebuilt... With the combined aid of the revolutionary anti-virus protocol, the Matriarch Genus, all Maverick outbreaks across the globe had died down, thus putting an end to the war that plagued both humanity and Reploidom for what seemed a millennium.

By the year 3122, all wars had ended and peace had been brought to the earth and its bordering space colonies. X, breathing in the air of Mount Herok, looked down into the valley that once was Delta City. He shut his eyes and the memories knocked him to his knees. As the tears ran down from his eyes, he laughed as the sun stretched over the rubble knowing that finally, finally it was all over. His war had been won and those who had paid the ultimate prices would always be remembered in the hearts and minds of the people they protected for centuries to come.

The following year,on the 1000th meeting of Congress, both Reploidom and humanity met to sign a bill to change everything. The momentous bill was designed to declare both Reploids and humans equal for the time that both would be on Earth. Smiling a teary smile, X stood before them to see the signing of this awe-inspiring decree. The thoughts flooded through X's mind as he realized that his battles were not in vain after all. Sighing softly, he knew that everything was set to look for the next endeavor, space. For millenias, man had always done horrid things to the Earth and always thought of his own ends. It took a global catastrophe to awaken the hearts that unite us and allow us to set aside our petty differences to become one nation seeking the answers of all our universal questions.

Beyond the clouds and over all mountains, man built our future, The Redemption, our shining beacon of hope that our people would forever continue to explore and fulfill our grandest desires. During launch of the ship, once again Reploid and mankind alike were called to usher in this incredible moment that would change history for the better... As the ship's engines sparked to life, X looked at the monolithic ship as his hopes soared to new heights. Maybe there was new hope for humanity and Reploidom... Maybe his people could coexist with Man....

This one moment... was history in the making... That being over a decade ago... The date, 3150... The Redemption had sent back information from all ten planets of the solar system and was now about to leave this galaxy on their quest for sentient life amongst the cosmos. No one would know that this would be answered before their hyperthrusters could engage... Striking fast and without mercy, a plague of battle-class ships attacked the Redemption crippling it and once again as fast as they hit... The ship was destroyed... The crew... was lost in the cruel void of space.

The earth took this as a hard blow and prepared for the worst to happen. The Maverick Hunter Headquarters, once decommissioned, was reopened to prepare everyone for the worst. Scientists started to dissect every bit of information from the Redemption as possible and came to a new conclusion... Whomever and whatever hit the ship was coming for the Earth now... leaving in its wake a death toll unfathomable to either races... As the sun fell once more into the horizon, X looked up from his journal logs and onto the red moon... the signifying of the coming of the Apocalypse in some accounts... What would come would test the limits of flesh and mechanics alike.... As the Fates decided the final destiny of this tiny blue orb in the dark, X looked into the sky for his next challenge as an unshakable sense that this had happened before took over his body... History does and will repeat itself, he kept telling himself... and the point of this history lesson would soon be uncovered... However, the very answer will tear all of what X knew and knows asunder... forever...


	2. Unholy Agenda

Unholy Agenda

Not far from the action within the Maverick Hunter Headquarters, a foe from the past made his appearance in the shadowy locale that was his hideout. Badly beaten and almost broken, Sigma fell to the floor barely conscious after the beating of his life. As he pulled himself up onto a chair, he looked unto the changed world that he knew ages ago. Mumbling to himself incoherently and laughing maniacally, he started his plans...

"You want to rule this orb do you? I am the only one that CAN and WILL rule here! I'll show HIM... I'll show him who the true bringer of DEATH is!" Sigma spouted typing on his computer, "If my crews are right, there is a nice surprise in the Antarctic that will be wonderful to have when HE shows up!"

"Lord Sigma?" started a mysterious shadow, "preparations are almost complete. We will strike swift and without mercy! The Maverick Hunters won't even suspect... What is it?"

"Cancel your plans," Sigma plotted, "We're going on a trip... Put all your forces on standby and give them notice... By the way, get ahold of the good Doctor because I am in need of his new body sooner than I had thought..."

"Yes sir!" the mysterious figure shouted as he vanished from the room.

Sigma started typing wildly to get his plans on their final gear. As the repair functions started feebly to do their repairs, Sigma sat hacking into the recently reactivated main computers at Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Gathering intelligence on who was still active from the Sigma Wars, he scanned the list quickly and smirked as he noticed X on the roster. If his plan did not work, he knew X would get rid of Him and finally he would rid himself of X... If only these plans were to come to fruition... for something would happen to change the fortunes of all this day...

As X stared into his monitor, he knew this battle would call on him to pick up his scattered arms once more. He had long ago washed his hands of all the blood from his endless fighting but he knew that this time would be different... He knew that he would no longer have a friend to rely on to cover his back... No longer would he have Zero to joke around with when things got rough... This above all else got under X's skin as he sat there with his head on the desk thinking of all the things that had happened the last few decades.... The Matriarch Genus... The Reploid Civil Rights Amendment.... The Earth Unified Nation... All this would have been great for his best friend to see with him but he knew that where ever he was, he was with Iris and that she would take care of him... As these thoughts rushed through his mind, X's eyes started to tear up as he zoned out even further off into space... His eyes jolted around reminiscing of the moments before Zero's death... The memories were too real to him... as silent sulks came from his terminal...

"X?" Alia called as she rushed to his side, "Are you ok? It's about Zero... Isn't it? You've been beating yourself up over that again? Zero was not lost due to anything you did. When can you get that through that thick skull of yours?"

"Alia..." X whimpered as the tears stretched down his chin, "If I could have done more, I know I could have saved him! I know it! I should have never turned my back on any of them! I let everyone down! If I had not let my guard down, those people in Delta City would still be alive..."

"Ohhh X..." Alia sighed as she flung her arms around his neck, "Stop blaming yourself! Zero died the way he dreamt... in honorable battle with you by his side... He would be glad to see you now, X, the Victor of the Sigma Wars."

"Yeah... I guess... you're right Alia," X faked a smile and nuzzled close to Alia, "I'm so glad you're here with me again. I missed you so much..."

"It's ok," Alia blushed as she let go of X, "I'm just glad you remember me. You being the big war hero and all... I thought you would have settled down..."

Laughing softly, X took up Alia's soft hands and looked deeply into her eyes, but before he could even say a word.... an alert was broadcast to all available Maverick Hunters. Looking down lost in thought, X's eyes widened worryingly at the thought of the worsening matters in the world... As X's eyes flushed with tears once more, Alia leaned against X and nuzzled a wordless note of affection trying to pull him back into reality. X, sighing a burdened sigh, blinked a couple times and nodded in agreement as they got up and left. In a whiz of fast steps, they rushed off to the bridge, deep in the Headquarters. In such a small time frame, they made it to the bridge, a spacious hall with a large projection screen behind a podium. After they caught their breathe, X and Alia kept close and held hands as they heard the news... For as uncertainty crept inside of them, they needed every reassurance that the other would be there no matter if the horrific news was true or not...

A silenced hush followed the crowd as the Reploid marked with General status and military garb stepped forth and commenced the briefing...

"Greetings my friends... I'm sorry to have called you all here at such times but there are some matters that I have to address immediately. We just caught onto it but someone has hacked into our computer system," Signas began, "There're three Reploids that I know of that're capable of doing something like this. Two of them are on the base but the other one... Well... He's been gone for awhile and his disappearance was more than questionable. We lost many good men trying to end his rebellions and stop his plans. I just wish that he would learn to quit while he's ahead," Signas sighed heavily and continued, "Sigma's reappearance isn't the only bad news I have to give you my friends... It gets worse.... MUCH worse.... Our intelligence faction has come across some information, even though it's a little bit. We know with all certainty that in the time he was away, he amassed a great army. However as to what he wants to do is still a mystery. We can only speculate but his only goal has ever been to eradicate all human life from this planet and create a utopia for Mavericks..." Signas shrugged and shook his head, "Also, from our investigation into the Redemption tragedy, we know with a one-hundred percent certainty that he didn't have anything to do with it. As well, we know that other Mavericks didn't attack the Redemption... The Redemption was destroyed by a group of assassins that call themselves Ra's Elite. We recently intercepted a transmission from them and from what they said... they're planning a mass extermination on the Earth.... in three days... In other words, seventy-two hours from now, they will systematically eliminate everyone and everything on Earth...." lowering his head a little, Signas let out another heavy sigh, "I know it's such short notice. I was getting so used to this peace myself... But be ready my friends. We are going to war..."

As the final blow of the news sunk in, X and Alia looked out the window together and knew that the worst was coming... For X had a choice now.... stand and fight without his friend or run and hide with Alia... His choice for this matter not only effected Reploidom but every man, woman and child on this tiny little orb... For this choice and this choice alone.... would effect the countdown til.... annihilation...


	3. The Race Is On

The Race Is On

As the sun set into the hills, X and Alia held each other trying to let the news sink in that their worst fears had come to fruition. Not only had Sigma returned but even worse, someone was coming to erase all their hard work from the planet... They both knew that what was to come would tear everything apart. All the foundations of religion, science, and even mankind would forever be shaken by this startling revelation from the heavens. Little did they know that in space the mercenaries were already plotting the ultimate annihilation of Earth....

"Is everything ready?" Ra slammed looking at the other assassins reproachfully.

"Yes, yes... Everything is prepped," an Elite cast in the shadows smirked, "Stop riding our backs... We know what to do... It's what we've done for the last century."

"We don't need your lip!" Ra snapped, "We are soldiers and we must serve our Master without question! Now do we understand this?" Ra grimaced around the nodding crowd, "You will not be asked again. This is the only time I will address this matter. I won't accept ANY sass or backtalk from you pissants."

"We got it, sir," the Elite in the shadows whimpered, "I apologize for being out of line, Commander..."

"I don't expect much from you grunts but remember if things aren't perfect, that little runt will find a way to put a stopper in our plans! Our ancestor has done nothing but hindered the plans of our Master. He's our number one target when we get to Earth. We will do whatever we can to seal him off and extinguish this small flicker of indigence. Now if you all are ready... I would like to talk more about our battle tactics once we hit land..." he turned to a screen that flashed behind him and continued, "Note the primitive weapons we must face. It's going to be easy but don't get too carried away once the battle begins. We have our orders and they must not be deviated from! The Master wants him alive!"

"SIR!" the Elite members unanimously saluted and Ra trailed off... The plans had been set and everything was falling into their favor. Finally completing the task, Ra waved off the crew as they were now free to get ready for war... They each went their respective way to touch up their plans for the Earth wasn't too far now... It was simply over the next hill in the Solar System.... and soon nothing would stop them from attaining their ultimate victory...

Awakening swiftly after a nightmare, X brushed the sweat from his brow with his free hand... X sighed silently and tried not to wake his love. It felt right for it to be like this... Him falling asleep with Alia at his side... Somehow during the night, they had dozed off holding each other.... but it didn't really matter in the end. It was the only thing that was right in this world at the moment, X thought to himself... He smiled thinking about how long it had been since he was with Alia. He looked over at Alia, pleasantly dreaming, and gently pushed her hair out of her face... Squirming a bit as X touched her, Alia's eyes shot open and she instantly turned a shade of maroon. X looked over at Alia as he started laughing and stoked her now rosy cheeks. At the very touch of X, Alia blushed even more and melted into his arms snuggling against his chest.

"Good morning Alia," X nuzzled cheerfully, "I think it's about time for us to go."

"I know..." Alia trailed off sleepily, "Just a little more. I don't want this to end..."

"Me neither," X sighed happily, "but we don't have any choice... War is coming..."

Despite Alia's clinginess, they parted ways to perform their normal rounds on the base. While Alia went off to help the other Hunters on patrols, X went up to the main hall and did some surfing on the central computers for anything new gathered on Sigma... but again... there was nothing.

Pouring over every fact and statement, X stared off at the inane gibberish about the gathering army and their purported targets. He had no intention of indulging such things but there happened to be some fact amongst all the blurbs. As the moments drifted by, X began to piece together Sigma's plan and started to drift off... Staring off at the monitor, he could envision Sigma at an underground facility trying to gain access to an old relic. He was terribly annoyed and could do nothing to open the heavy hermetically sealed doors... Fist after fist, he tried in vain to open the doors with force. All of which failed...

This had happened once before, X thought back... Sigma had tried to get his hands on another relic and it had begun just like this... Taking place on a typical day for the Hunters, a group of Mavericks were sighted attacking a city. The Maverick Hunter HQ was quick to dispatch Zero and X to the scene, Delta City, where a massive Maverick uprising was taking place... An act that was worthy of the history books... Outnumbered beyond all odds, X and Zero fought with everything they had as the thoughts of all their loved ones screamed through their head and drove them to keep going... When it all had seemed like they had won, the Mavericks fell back as the item they were fighting for was now lost...

For deep underneath the city, there laid a secret that was buried for ages.... Underneath the sprawling city streets and concrete roads, an old fusion core left over from an old fortress, that was destroyed in an epic battle ages ago, slept inactively... As the fight continued outside, technicians worked feverishly to dissect it and take it away from the scene... The call being made, the Mavericks left their work behind as they began their next task... Smiling wickedly, the Mavericks set the reactor to explode... If they weren't to have it, no one would, they delighted as they trailed off and set it to go off...

The Hunters had earned victory this day, though it was short-lived... As X had chased the remaining Mavericks out of the city, an explosion rocked the city as everything surrounding it seemed to stand still. Birds, animals, children, men and women were just freed from their houses as the battle had been won... A brilliant flash of light had silenced all of that... The impending blast encompassed the city and knocked X to his face, kicked to the dust by the aftershock.... X stood in the distance watching as the fiery ball engulfed everything.... Powerless to stop it even if he had tried... They were all dead...

Amidst the chaos, X recollected himself and tried to find the remaining Hunter forces. All units had reported in with minor casualties but there was something still missing... He could feel it deeply... Stumbling across the ruins, X finds Zero's saber along with his severed right arm... Meters away, he saw the burning corpse of his best friend laying there... The welling emotions broke free as they washed over X and he convulsed holding Zero's saber close to his chest... The Hunters had indeed won the battle but the Mavericks had won the war... Zero, being lost to them, left a gaping hole in the defenses of the Hunters... Worst of all, X had lost his best friend.... X couldn't free himself of the emotions of this moment... He felt like it all was repeating itself... He couldn't let it happen... He just couldn't... Not to Alia or Signas or anyone else... He had to stop Sigma even at the cost of his own life...

As the memory of him losing Zero repeated in X's mind, the mementos of that moment flushed down his cheeks.... The memories of his best friend being lost struck him hard... This time was the hardest he was hit for months... Gritting his teeth in order to fight back the words, X tried even more to hold back the tears as he cried out in anguish and pain....

"NOOO ZERO!!!" X yelled echoing across the halls, "Why did you have to die? We were brothers.... You promised me you'd never leave my side again!"

Amidst the groups of Reploids watching X reminisce, Signas pushed his way through them and stepped up next to him... Clearing his deep sympathetic voice, he laid one of his hands on X's shoulder and tried to calm him.

"X?" Signas soothed, "You're no good like this... Go take a break. There're plenty of Hunters here to help take the slack off. You're way too wound up right now.... Think of yourself for once. It isn't selfish... Zero is fine... He's where he should be... with Iris. You know how much it would mean to him that you are still alive and finished what he started. The War is over because of you! Everything that has happened in the recent decades was from YOU... X! Now stop your bellyaching and find Alia. She was looking for you... We need the both of you at the top of your health. When the fighting begins, we will count on you to do your part in saving the world.... You're all we have left now... Don't give up on us..."

After shooting everyone standing about dirty glares, X hopped down and looked about for Alia... Checking in all her usual places, X couldn't find her anywhere. Finally giving up and going on the deck, X looked out to the brilliant sky that was alive with the sounds of birds and the rustling leaves... Everything had turned a nice auburn and orange outside at the moment he had arrived... The sun had just started to rest its head for one day and extended a vibrant sunset for everyone to see... Looking away for a moment, he found Alia looking into the now awakening stars of the early night sky pondering what was to happen next...

"Ahhh... There ya are Alia," X jazzed sitting next to her, "I've been looking for you..."

"X!" Alia gleefully interjected, "There you are! I'm glad to have you back.... with me. I remember the good old days... You were always the greatest to me and protected me with everything you had. I can't begin to tell you how much you mean to me..." Alia let out a breathe and looked up into the sky again, "I don't know what is coming next but I know with you here... it'll be alright... You'll fight and win... I can always count on you to come back to me. You'll defeat anything that comes our way... That's for sure... There's no way you'd lose... to anyone."

X's eyes widened and sullied a bit, "Alia..."

"Don't worry... It'll be ok... I'll protect you with my heart..." Alia smiled and nuzzled, "Destroy them all... for me.. and I'll protect you... all the way."

"I... I'll try my best," X forced out and sighed in deep thought.

As the night stretched on, X and Alia sat on top of the Headquarters reminiscing all the fun they had with all the people that had come and gone.... They talked about all the great Reploids, who had been lost to the tragedies of war... and all the lost friends, who above all else were engraved forever within their hearts. Sometime between here and there, X and Alia found themselves thinking about the tragedies that were yet to come.... For they knew that the world was going to change soon.... very soon... possibly for the worst.

Excruciatingly early that morning, Alia and X awoke to the alarms sounding... Announcing all across the base, there were alerts broadcasting about attacks spread out across the world... Their guests had come early.... X grasped Alia's hand and helped her out as they rushed off to the main hall... They looked at the monitors in horror as Ra's Elite was spread now across Europe and Asia wiping out all of the cells of Maverick Hunters. In less than six hours, they had wiped clean most of the world's defenses... It was almost surreal... Somehow they knew where all the Maverick Hunter cells were located... and somehow they knew everything there was to know about each division.... As X understood the sheer horror of it all, he knew what he had to do... He had to take up his weapons and fight alongside his brothers in order to cast back this impeding force... Little did he know that this would spell the destruction of everything he had once held dear....

As the death tolls kept coming in, Australia was decimated.... Asia.... Europe.... Canada.... and Mexico.... were defenseless... There was only one base left to contend with..... X's... As the Hunters gathered to strike against their aggressors, X stood rallying the troops to fight them off. Looking around their fortified positions and at every face of the Hunters, he knew that these numbers could and would prove to be a power to contend with... When out of the shadows.... they struck. Amidst the volley of plasma shots, X stood amassing the armies of Hunters... and had them try to push back the invaders... all to no avail... The screams and cries of falling and fallen Reploids echoed across the battlefield.... Shots ricocheted off of the armor of the Elite as they kept pushing forward... They made quick work of the team and left them all for dead.... Being struck down by something that stung him straight through the circuits, X fell to the ground in searing pain and laid barely conscious on the battlefield thinking of how much he had failed Alia.... Yet no matter how much he wanted to let go, something inside of him told him to hold on.... that there was still hope.... As everything went black, a cloaked figure stepped forward and took X from the wounded.... and the dead... X awoke not too long after this to a cloaked figure mending his wounds... Jumping to his feet and aiming his buster, X looked unto the figure, hallucinating from the traumatic damage to his systems, and assumed a battle stance readying for the first move.....

"Sigma!" X gasped angrily, "Come to finish me off? Wait a second... You're not Sigma..."

"That's correct, X" started the mysterious figure, "I'm sorry that I didn't make it in time. It was a slaughter... Nothing but a slaughter... A true tragedy from what I saw... You too seemed like you were a goner but you've still got some strength in you. Simply amazing how you still cling onto life even without so much as a whisper of hope."

"ENOUGH! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" X inquired angrily charging his blaster.

"Oh sorry," laughed the shadow, "I forget my manners sometimes. I'm known as Zenith. Lower your weapon, I'm on your side. If I wasn't, I would've left you to die on the battlefield."

"I have no reason to trust you! Now why did you save me?" X snapped and turned to Zenith.... only to find that he had vanished, "That's what I thought... Play hero and vanish... That's just great."

As the repair functions mended the wounds that Zenith did not, X walked from his hidden locale and walked to see his Headquarters hit even harder than his team of Hunters.... As the smoke trailed skyward and the fires burned uncontrolled, X, with his fists clenched, tried not to think of who had perished this day... Upon entering the Hunter Headquarters, he knew the worst possible scenario amongst it all... The thoughts were dizzying as he stood amongst the disheveled remains of the HQ... He had lost the war... His world was gone... Worst of all, he had lost his love this day.... Closing his eyes tight, he realized that he had lost everything that he was to ever care about.... As the weight of the world seemed to fall on his shoulders, he looked up unto the only operational monitor in the HQ as it glowed to life...

"This was the best your planet could offer?" the darkened specter mocked, "I had better game with the Redemption! At least they fought to the end, you did nothing! Now beg for pity from your new ruler, Black Talon! I greet you, my subjects, and declare an ultimatum. Surrender now or be destroyed!"

As X heard this, he knew that he had failed miserably.... Not only does he have to sit by and watch the world die.... he had to sit and watch it be destroyed alone.... Broken and utterly defenseless from the might of Ra's Elite... he sat staring at the static on the screen as the blood poured from his clenched fists and the tears hit the ground... Nothing he could do now could spare the world from its fate... or so it seemed....


	4. The Return

The Return

A gentle breeze rolled into the haunted structure as the skeleton of the once glorious building lay burning in the evening sky. The Maverick Hunter Headquarters was once the greatest shining beacon of hope that the Reploids had to offer. Now it was broken and shattered at the very seems of what it once stood for. As its ruins lay smoldering, the world's fate seemed to be as doomed as the Reploids within it... The hope that it once stood for had faded and been replaced by nothing but the empty winds... foretelling of the events to come...

The once life-filled halls gave in to the now ghastly environment. It didn't give X much comfort as he stood surveying the destruction but he pressed on amidst it all... As X continued on into another destroyed section of the complex, he looked about for any survivors of this disaster... He rushed from room to room of the mammoth structure searching frantically... Finally coming to Lifesaver's clinic, he cleared wreckage from the control panels and looked for Reploids that were being repaired in capsules... Seeing no one amongst the capsules, he proceeded to go through each corridor of the Headquarters again.... _There had to be someone... Everyone couldn't have been killed... _he kept thinking... He was at the point of hysteria when he crossed the same platform he did an hour ago... It was all lost... There was no point of going on anymore... X crumbled to the floor overcome with sadness...

As his sobs filled the ruins, a hiss resounded over the void and footsteps clanked against the bare metal floors. A female Reploid stood covered in dust and ash looking shocked at X... and couldn't believe her eyes...

"X?!" Alia coughed as she knelt down on one knee....

"ALIA!" X's eyes froze on her and he lunged at her, "I never thought I'd see you again!"

"Well," Alia grinned, "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Signas' help..." Alia took a breath as she flicked a hidden switch, "Signas built a secret series of tunnels to the Headquarters so that in case of an attack... we could evacuate the premises quickly... After all the failed attacks on this base, he figured that they would be needed one of these days... Oh hi there guys... Come on out it's just X..."

Cursing under his breath, Signas came out of the room carting out an injured Reploid... He smirked as he caught sight of X and nodded to him as he helped Lifesaver with his patients. A few moments later, Douglas came running out, hugging his screwdrivers and tool sets close to his chest...

"Is it over yet?" Douglas sighed, his voice mixed with laughter and fear, as he walked off to help with repairs, "Didn't want to leave my stuff for those guys to get it afterall..."

"I wish it was over," X hesitated clenching his fists tight as the tears forced their way out, "I don't want to think about the needless blood shed today... Just how many innocent Reploids died today?"

"Too many," Alia cut in holding X close, "It's not your fault... You tried to protect us... It was a battle we couldn't win..."

"I let everyone down... They won the battle... Even worst, my whole unit was annihilated by a group of only two Elite members," X prodded trying not to let the tears resurface, "I feel so totally worthless right now... I couldn't do anything..."

"Oh... X" Alia lamented, "Just stop it! I told you some things I shouldn't have that night... It's alright... Nothing will ever happen like this again... Let's stop being so stupid and fight together once more like we did long ago..."

Alia flung her arms around X and kissed him softly pressing herself closely into him... All of his worries seemed to melt away at that instant... His arms wrapping around her instinctively, X pulled her close and nuzzled against her resting her next to him. X and Alia sat there for what seemed like hours just cradling each other... Not knowing when the world would end, they just clinched tight and refused to let this war break them up... As Signas reentered the room looking as stern as ever, X released Alia and they both turned to look at him...

"All our defenses are compromised," Signas rambled on with his head hung low, "Reploids are being stock piled in Lifesaver's clinic and we have no one except you to battle against the Elite... If they ever come back..." he looked up at X, "What is it now?"

"There's another Reploid out there," X confessed, "He saved me... Maybe if I can track him down, I can bring him back here...."

"Alright X," Signas muttered walking back towards a badly damaged control console, "I'll be around helping with repairs but drop a word if you find him... If he's as you said, we could really need him... We need everyone we can get."

As Signas walked off tossing random junk out of his way, X nodded and went out towards the battlefield... The fires still hadn't been extinguished as parts of bodies laid strewn across the torn landscape... A stiff wind had steadily started blowing in as the dust kicked up illuminated the few wounded that had managed to get to their feet... Rushing over to their aide, X took those that still functioned back into Lifesaver's clinic....

The smell of blood was heavy in the air some hours after the battle... Frozen eyes stared transfixed into the sky as if eagerly awaiting their savior... Charred marks and potholes left from explosions marred everything... X pressed forward against this hellish atmosphere and retraced his steps. Taking a deep breath, he turned to face the cave that Zenith took refuge in... The sudden darkness strained X's eyes as his pupils focused... Scanning the area swiftly, X couldn't see anything... or anyone... Marching forward into the darkness, it swallowed him whole as he followed the passageway into a hollowed room... X continued to move on as his mind raced about the battle that he had lost... Before he knew it, he was staring face to face with the Reploid that had saved his life.

"Ahhh.... You've returned I see," Zenith said delighted, "I also see that you're pretty well repaired too... Well now.... Let's test your abilities then..."

"I don't want to fight you... I came back here to ask for your help..." X sighed.

"I'll only go with you if you beat me... Right then... Shall we begin?" Zenith cut in as X sighed again and nodded at him...

A hand reached beneath his cloak pulling out what looked like a sword handle... He smirked and tossed his cloak aside... The sturdy cloak floated in the air a moment as it drifted to rest on the floor of the cave... Zenith and X stood surveying each other for a moment as if expecting the other's first moves... As they stood battle ready, X did not move an inch from where he was standing and watched Zenith with a raised brow. His eyes shone in the darkness as Zenith touched a crystal on his saber. The platinum and jeweled handle instantly grew to a laser broadsword with a hum... at which Zenith's face lit up again with delight...

Not even flinching, X stood his ground like a stone statue... resolute and unforgiving... Seizing his moment, Zenith jumped into the air and slashed at X but hit nothing but an after image.... As Zenith tried to recollect himself, X had already won... With his saber out and pointed at Zenith's throat, X shut his eyes and shook his head...

"You're fast," Zenith jawed happily, "Speed is good but let's see if you can follow through... Show me that so-called limitless potential!"

"Limitless?" X hesitated as Zenith too vanished before his eyes, "Damn! Here we go again..."

"This is the end!" Zenith mouthed as he flew through the air with his sword arched towards X.

Thoughts of all the tragedies in his life that started as innocently as this one moment rushed through X. X's eyes flushed with determination and indigence as Zenith started his final attack... Digging his feet firmly into the ground, X stood his ground and readied to counterattack. A well of energy seemed to gather at the point where Zenith had aimed this last strike... Time seemed to move at an unusually slow pace as they moved... Shifting his weight onto the ball of his foot, X grabbed the blade of the sword and lifted Zenith up tossing him into the opposite wall. The saber pointed again at Zenith's throat, X took a deep breathe and shook his head once more... Looking quite surprised, Zenith touched the same crystal on his sword and it dematerialized....

"Wonderful... Simply wonderful" Zenith congratulated, "You're everything I had hoped and more... I'd be honored to go with you back to your Headquarters. After you X?"

Drooping his cape over his shoulder, Zenith motioned X out first... They had a small distance to cover and the moon was just starting to slumber in the hills. The stars gave way to the brightening of the sun as the shattered door for the base was seen in the distance... The fires had been extinguished and everything had started to look for the better outside... Walking into the doorway of the battered complex, X caught sight of a familiar face, Alia... who instantly rushed to X's side.

"You're OK!" Alia smiled happily hooking onto his neck, "I'm glad you're back... I missed you!" she nuzzled and looked at X's companion, "I take it you're Zenith? Pleased to meet you! I'm Alia..."

"Why hello Alia," Zenith bowed, "I take it she's smitten with you eh X? You have good tastes in ladies," Zenith kissed Alia's hand, "Now where is the leader of this place? Is he dead?"

"No," X shot growling slightly as he motioned up a set of stairs, "He's up there helping with the repairs..."

Dashing up to the next level, Zenith and X dodged the piles of junk accumulating along the halls. Finally making it to the bridge, they caught Signas, who was talking to Douglas about precautions to take when the Elite came back. Signas did not even realize that X was standing behind him when he turned about to start on his next task... Taken a few steps back, Signas almost fell onto Douglas, who was monitoring the electrical system.

"Damn it X," Signas yelled, "Why do you do that?" Signas took another step backwards, "Oh.... hello... so you're Zenith? Welcome to my base... Well, what's left of it.. I'm Signas, Commander of this region of Hunters. I didn't know it would be you that X had ran into..."

"I am extremely glad that you still function," Zenith quickly cut in and nodded, "I was afraid that you were overpowered by those goons. I'm very relieved now!" An alarm caught Zenith's attention for a moment. Ducking his head down to check, he remembered the reason why he was there, "Ah yes... I've been gathering intelligence on one of the old Maverick Hunter Captains you used to employ here... Sigma." he looked at X, who seemed to sneer at the mere mentioning of his name, "It's ok X... It's still a great shock to myself that he has returned.... Upon some digging, I've gained some knowledge about what he plans on pulling off... He had originally planned on assaulting the Hunter Base but since those plans fell through with the Elite... He fell back to Antarctica... There are some curious relics up there that he's trying to reactivate... Do any of you remember Dr Albert Wily? I don't know if you would or not X..."

"Dr Wily?" X pondered, "I remember that name but.... it's fuzzy..."

"You do know who created you, X?" Zenith looked at him curiously.

"Yes, I remember that but I don't remember who exactly Dr Wily was..." X forced out.

"Well then... Let me remind you," Zenith teased, "I know you remember your friend Zero... He was a valiant Reploid, X.... He fought til the bitter end. Zero was created by Dr Wily. Long ago, Dr Light and Dr Wily cooperated in a project of bringing life to a new breed robots... those who could think and feel... Dr Light and Dr Wily both had different ideals about how to use this knowledge.... Dr Light wanted to use them to benefit mankind... while Dr Wily insisted on using them to rule the world... During the first battle of robotics, your ancestor, Mega Man, was born out from the need of a hero... Dr Wily lost in the first of many epic battles... But history was doomed to repeat itself time and time again... Having failed miserably at ruling the world, Dr Wily tried nonstop to build better inventions and better plans to overthrow everything.... Each again failed miserably..." Zenith looked at X specifically, "He retreated to his last sanctuary where he spent the last years of his life developing weapons of mass destruction for his progeny... those who would follow in his footsteps... Zero being one of these weapons... Don't you see X?"

Looking swiftly at Zenith, he replied through gritted teeth, "Sigma's trying to get his hands on some of these weapons..."

"Exactly! Sigma is going after Dr Wily's last great work...." Zenith spoke up, "He's going to the Antarctic to a dig that his Maverick legions have been digging after for the last few decades... It seems that after you took the claim of defeating him finally, he went into hiding. The truth being was that Sigma was never defeated... The coward left the spotlight to fight another day and so the long history of battles continues X... I tell you now that if Sigma gets the Gigatron Cannon... The powers in the world will change and everything you've rebuilt and grown to love will be destroyed... Let me help you with imagining this... Imagine a weapon with enough power to destroy a planet or even a star... This was Dr Wily's last great plan before he finally was defeated... You see now what you must do X?"

"Stop Sigma and finally bring him to justice for his crimes... like I should've done long ago... These Sigma Wars must end..." X growled as the anger filled his eyes, "HE will pay for what he did to Zero! Even if it takes my last ounce of strength..."

X and Zenith knew that what was going to come would have tested the might of both of them... Yet somehow, X knew that everything was going to work out and that something was going to happen that would change the tides... He could just sense it as if he always had known...

Using Zenith's coordinates, X and Zenith teleported to the harshest and most inhospitable region of the world, Antarctica... As they stood in the dizzying cold, they got a taste as to why it was so inhospitable... A chilling welcome had beckoned them as they showed up here... A snowstorm had just blown in and concealed everything for miles... The only thing that could be seen was a pinpoint of light that was barely noticeable in the distance... They contended with the blizzard and kept moving towards their target... Somehow Zenith knew somewhat where they were, he took the lead and showed X where to go... As they walked through the blinding snow and the numbing cold, Zenith and X stumbled across the staging area of Sigma's plot. A complex that seemed to have been built from the mind of a genius... A holographic emitter was stuck to an offshore station to drive people into the ocean... It didn't want to operate in this extreme cold, as the stuttering image of a drilling platform stood off in the distance, but it did so rather weakly. However Zenith wasn't looking at it... What he was looking at was in the snow. The real facility seemed to be under the snow in what looked like a frozen lake bed... The perfect cover for researching a lost ruin...

With a soft clank, they came inside of the structure.... Making sure not to trigger any defenses, Zenith and X sneaked into one of the large halls and caught sight of several figures that were known Maverick sympathizers but were not classified as Maverick.... They were all talking in inaudible tones about what was going on in space... All was well until X noticed a red clad warrior that bred the striking resemblance to an old friend... But it couldn't be because he was dead... All the doubt was cleared away in a few moments as his eyes traced his blonde locks and the saber in its sheath... There was no doubt about it, X thought.... That _was_ Zero... How the hell was this possible? Zero died years ago... X's thoughts were driving him into a corner as Zenith sat watching the crew below...

Shaking some sense into himself, X drew himself into the confrontation that was going on below... From what he could gather, it looked like the group shifted its attention to trying to get the door open to the laboratory. This was great because, as Zenith and X thought, maybe they didn't have to interject after all... As they sat in their ring side seats, they watched as again and again the Mavericks tried to force the door open... to no avail... Dr. Wily had done well to fortify this place... Maybe _too_ well...

Amidst the cursing under Sigma's breath, a Maverick sighted X and Zenith sitting in the rafters of the excavation site. Quickly aiming their weapons, the Mavericks started to attack without any thought as to what it would do to the place around them... Sigma rose his hand slightly and motioned them to lower their weapons... Just as speedy, Zero disappeared from view and took the two spies captive... The Mavericks watched sneering defiantly at the now captured Hunters... There was no way out now... It was over...

Then, it happened... In a burst of blinding light, a streak of red came sliding by... Shrouded completely in shadow, the lone hero took out each of the Mavericks as he inevitably faced Zero...

"There's only one Zero!" the mystery hero shouted valiantly, "You IMPOSTER!!!" The assassin jumped into the air as the Zero clone did... In a whiz of moving shapes, the two fought in combat... with only one being the victor... Streaks of reddish light flowed against each other as their swords met each other... A hollow clank echoed over the area as the body followed... With a smirk written on his face for a job well done, the mysterious figure stood over the decapitated form of the cloned Zero...

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes X!" the guest gestured stepping into the light, "I've been looking for you for a LONG LONG time!"

"Z... Z... ZERO!?" X forced out as the tears streamed down his face, "Is that really you?"

"The one and only! You didn't think you were going to take ALL the credit for taking down Sigma once and for all, did ya? I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner! I had a little problem with a new breed of Maverick in Europe..." Zero shrugged as he put his Z-saber into its sheath, "Enough with the formalities for now! Let's take care of Sigma once and for all!"

"You're right... We shouldn't get nostalgic just yet," X smirked looking forward at Sigma.

As the trio stood looking at the still very badly damaged frame of Sigma, the tension was thick as they eyed him up waiting for his first move. He looked much like the Maverick Hunter HQ, the destruction almost total but not enough to cease function... Half his face was gone.... The remaining bit was burnt and singed but somehow still clung to his face... His armor... what was left of it, had holes in it from what looked like fists.... and his cape had seen better days... It had holes from the top to the bottom... To put it simply, the cape looked in the best shape out of everything... X looked at Sigma and the anger melted away... It was soon replaced with pity that he had to be put through such humiliation...

Zero and Zenith readied their attacks as they stood enjoying every second of Sigma's pitiful state. As X stood there, the hate soon bubbled back up and the pity subsided... Removing his X-saber from its sheath, X took a step towards Sigma.... and readied to finish it all...

"Let's finish this Sigma!" X remarked through grinding teeth, "I think it's about time for you to pay for all the Reploids you've killed..."

"Surely you jest... You've killed more Reploids than I ever did," Sigma mocked, "Don't preach to me Maverick Hunter..."

"If you hadn't corrupted them," X growled, "There wouldn't be any need for the Maverick Hunters!"

"If humanity would just give up and die, there wouldn't be any need for Mavericks! Reploids are the evolution of life in this world... The perfect creation.... We will have our utopia, one way or another... No matter the cost or the bodies we have to step over!" Sigma grinned smugly.

X's eyes ignited with fury and gaped at Sigma, "We didn't evolve... We were created by humanity to help them! Your insanity ends here and now Sigma!"

In a blur of blue light, X vanished from sight and danced around Sigma with his blade... X seemed to melt from one point to the other as Sigma strife attacked trying to catch him off guard... His pace was not something to be caught up to as X stepped aside and took his saber, at the last second, parting the circuitry of Sigma's left arm... To finish him off, X tossed his saber into midair as it seemed to suspend in the air... The generator in his arm hummed to life... As the energy gathered around a focal point, X grinned at Sigma knowing this would finally finish him off. With the energy jolting from the turbines, X aimed his weapon and waved a final good-bye to Sigma as a ball of molten blue plasma shot from his arm cannon... Sigma was launched backwards through the door that they had problems opening... As he stumbled back to life, the other half of his face had fell off and there was nothing left of his arm but a tiny nub held together with a cluster of wires....

"Damn it X... I shall return! VERY soon... I have an armor worthy of yours being designed... It's close to completion X!" Sigma taunted with a mechanical buzz, "Soon you and your whole world will fall at the might of SIGMA!" Sigma grinned as he touched a badge on his damaged armor and vanished.

As quickly as he vanished, Sigma reappeared in his base of operations... Trying to maintain himself from shutting down, he went into the laboratory of an old nemesis... As the figure dashed about in his ghostly, yet solid physical form, Dr Wily made the last modifications to Sigma's new armor... Sigma looked unto the masterpiece of engineering and knew that no one, including Black Talon or the Hunters, would be able to match it... A spark from his left arm jolted and caught Dr. Wily's attention... Automatically, Dr. Wily looked up and smiled nefariously thinking that he had great news.

"I trust you were able to find my lab?" Dr. Wily fumbled looking at the disfigured body before him.

"I was delayed," Sigma retorted with a mechanical screech to his voice, "One of your arch nemeses were there today.... X. I swear that guy will pay for what he did to me today! Even if it's the last thing I do!"

"Let me check on the lab and I'll tell you everything you need to know," Dr Wily moped flickering and then vanishing from the base only to return seconds later, "Ahhhh well... X did seem to help you... It looks like... he did open the doors... Now use that cannon and blast Black Talon to BITS!"

"I will good doctor! All in good time.... All in good time..." Sigma frowned fiddling with what was left of his arm, "But for now.... I shall download my consciousness into this new body and try to adapt to it..."

As Dr. Wily prepped for the transfer, Sigma knew that he would prove to be more than a speed bump in the plans of both the Hunters and Black Talon... He smiled with glee thinking of all the fun he was going to have using this new body to terrorize once more. The time had finally come for him to regain his position as a force worth reckoning with.... The positive thoughts flooded his head as he was shut down for the transfer... He knew he would win this War... It was only a matter of time...

Not too far from this scene, three streaks of light hit the Maverick Hunter base and materialized on the bridge... Not much had changed since they had left but a lot of the mess was cleared away... They were quickly fixing up the disaster that was within the base and was soon to be at full strength again... very soon... X and Zenith weren't noticed as much as their companion... Coming back to a scene of surprised faces, Zero was welcomed back with open arms... It was a long and hard fight for him to finally get back here but he had done just that.... For he too had a major part to play in the future plot to come....


	5. Dr Light and Dr Wily

Dr Light and Dr Wily

A flood of radiance painted a cleanly dank laboratory some meters under the surface of Earth. It hadn't been used in ages but still the dust wasn't so thick to make it impossible to use the instruments within... The subtle ringing of the machines and life support echoed through a hollowed room as a figure that should be dead stood over his masterpiece... His nefarious face shook with delight as his frazzled white hair danced about. His task almost done as his maddened eyes flew about the lab... Several feet away, from Dr Wily, a chair sat with a lifeless shell in it... The shell's face was shockingly cold and uncaring, but somehow the glee within Dr Wily's eyes gave it a hint of life, even if it wasn't its own. The armor glistened with an almost alien gleam as its surface lightened... With a series of mechanical clicks, the lights flickered and the lifeless creation writhed in pain and twitched with fury... Its fists convulsed with life as it started to move slowly...

A slight hue of red overtook Sigma's eyes as the feeling of power once more pulsed through his veins. It had been quite a bit of time since he had felt this way but this time he knew for sure that no one could do him harm... Looking at his old ragged and torn body, he scanned it quickly and couldn't believe how humiliating it was to have been beaten so badly. Sigma put a hand on his old body and traced the battle wounds with his fingertips... He couldn't fathom just how much he had survived... A twisted smile converged on his face as the body arched with fire... The battle weary shell of his former self quickly incinerated... Standing victoriously as the ash blanketed the floor, he smirked and realized the true power that he had dreamed of for eons...

"Thank you Doctor. This is by far the best shell I've ever had... No one can possibly stand up to me now... This power is beyond all my wildest dreams... And with these advanced repair features, nothing will stop me! You've really outdone yourself," Sigma grinned happily.

"It's a work of art, Sigma. Now I trust you to take care of it," Dr Wily warned with an air of pride, "The repair functions are the most advanced ever produced but they need to be taken lightly. I don't want to see anything bad happening to this body. Don't overdo it... You still need to get used to it..."

"A most remarkable piece of engineering. I'll take good care of it Dr Wily..." Sigma bragged through his grin, "I'd like to see Black Talon's face when I show him my true power... The true might of Sigma!"

His laughter dodged and bounced against the walls as his evil deeds were soon to come into fruition. A mix of delight and wickedness filled Sigma's head as he started his plans once more... It had all come to this and now there was no stopping the might of Sigma... or so it would seem...

A foreboding atmosphere had seemed to penetrate the defenses of the MMHQ and dulled the once morose environment. Time had somehow gotten the best of the hunters because everyone just seemed to be pressed against the clock. Everyone's minds were elsewhere in the world for everyone knew the growing dangers around the corner and they knew the consequences. The lives of everyone in the base were at risk and they had to make quick work of everything before the return of the Elite...

All around the base, it seemed like people were hurriedly completing tasks, one after another, without a moment's breather... The repair crews were hit the hardest with the workload because the integrity of the Maverick Hunter HQ was ever weakening due to the attack. The almost rhythmic tapping and pounding of tools against metal chimed against all the voids in the base. The once peaceful serene was forever shaken by the Elite and never again will they be caught so defenseless... The crews working around the clock would make damned sure of that.

As work continued around the base, the main hall was ever-so alive with the chatter of keyboards and rustling papers. Navigators and top executives from the Hunter hierarchy were dissecting every bit of information coming in from around the globe. Perched on one of these seats, X navigated through several news segments at once. The quickening pace at which he was reading stung his eyes but he strained hard to keep it up. Every once in awhile, he'd look up half-expecting Zenith to come around the corner. His azure eyes would scan across the room looking for him, wishing for him to hurry into the room...

The reason for his fast working was to hide the thoughts digging into his subconscious and taking root firmly in his every waking notion... The doubts and fears drove out all rational thought as his frenzied scanning halted for a moment... X's pulse quickened as the thoughts pushed through his mind and blocked all else... His eyes froze on the figure that he had been waiting for... The moment was now and he knew that whatever had happened, Zenith would answer for it. Out of everyone in the world, he would make absolutely sure of that. Slowly maneuvering himself among the groups of people collected at the main hall, X drew himself next to Zenith and lowered his voice to a hush.

"We need to talk," X breathed silently.

"Why hello X," Zenith hummed cheerfully, "What's up?"

"You... me... now... I've been trying to catch you all day..." X motioned Zenith to one side, "I want to ask you some questions..."

"But of course," Zenith raised a brow and followed him to a lone corner, "Do you have a problem? If you have a problem, speak up..."

"Do I have a problem?!" X's right eye twitched out of anger, "I heard you talking to someone in your room yesterday. I want to know who it was before I have to get physical. I think I might've gotten rusty after the many, many years of living the civilian life." X smiled as he touched his X-buster, that was now turning with life, "but whatever I do I'm sure Lifesaver can fix... HOPEFULLY."

"... Ok," Zenith sighed hopelessly, "I'll tell you the truth... The whole truth, X... but we need to speak somewhere in private."

"Alright," X grimaced and bowed forward, "Let's get out of here then... Out by the cliff you always overlook?"

"It's fine, X" Zenith breathed heavily, "Lets go..."

A few nervous looks from some nearby spectators were caught away as they left the main hall... Their steps continued to dribble through the halls as Zenith and X left the bridge area and walked the path to the cliff where Zenith stood his lone vigil everyday. Looking out into the forest, Zenith's eyes stared transfixed at the horizon as tears seemed to well within them. After a few long awkward moments, Zenith shook his head and looked at X.

"X..." Zenith's face sullied with burden and emotion, "This is the whole truth that I have been told many times and I'm not sure how you'll take this... Long ago, Dr Light built two robots, who would revolutionize the industry. His first was much like you and had every potential that you had except some of his functions were eons behind the other... After building the first, he built you, X... He took the greatest care in designing you and used everything he learned to make you better. Yet something happened... I don't know what, but for some reasons unknown to the both of us, you were buried and I was launched in space." Zenith looked at X again, whose first thought had given him nod to his next revelation, "Yes, X, I'm your brother. I was given to the Galactic Police Force and I was given protection until I returned to Earth a few days ago..."

"Why now though?" X quickly questioned, with confusion written across his face, "And who were you talking to?"

"Ahhh... right," Zenith whispered somewhat amused, "Black Talon is wanted galaxies over for his atrocities on different races from here to several billion light years away... I was sent here by Duo to watch his activities... I was afraid that I had gotten here too late to stop the attack but luck be it, I got here just in time to save you... That's who I was talking to on my communicator, Duo... I was making a report about everything..."

"But wait a second," X interrupted, "Since when does the Galactic Police Force want me dead?"

"They don't," Zenith snickered, "Duo had asked if you were alright and I said that you were for now... but had you continued the way you were going... you wouldn't have been alive for much longer... Black Talon isn't wanted by so many for being the kindest of people, ya know..."

"R...Right," X stammered, taken back a little, "So I take it... Duo is your commanding officer in the Galactic Police... Why would he take you in?"

"Yet another dumb question..." Zenith shook his head laughing lightly, "Ok X... Let's take this back to one of the last Wily Wars... Everything was returning to normal when two sophisticated robots crash landed onto this world. Just the luck of the people of that time because they landed on an island that was ran by Dr Wily... Well... There was one of pure evil and the other was a warrior of justice... The one that was pure evil perished when he fell to your planet and the other survived only because Dr Light rebuilt him. Duo was the robot Dr Light rebuilt. But the evil within the dead robot wasn't stopped by its death, Dr Wily used it to fuel his own creations. Doing this, he risked blanketing the world in a darkness of the likeness they had never known... Your ancestor stopped it and Duo was indebted to him eternally for it... Now do you see why?"

"Yes," X spoke up, a picture finally becoming clear in his mind, "I get it all now... Duo owed Dr Light one so he took you under his wing... and gave you the things you needed for your return here one day..." X took a moment and looked at Zenith, "I get all of that... I just... There's still something that irks me... I've been trying to rationalize it for the last couple of minutes but it just doesn't make sense... If Dr Light wanted to hide us, why did he split us up like he did?"

"You're right... It doesn't make sense," Zenith chuckled, hiding his hesitation, "There's still a lot I don't know or understand about Dr Light. He was my creator, but I don't know what to make of his reappearance. It's not like I'm ungrateful for the things he's helped us do but it's just that... Well... He should be dead... but somehow he isn't... I want to ask him.... but I'm not sure how..."

"Zenith? Come in Zenith," a voice scratched over his communications line, "Return to Delta City... The capsule should be ready."

"X... I just got the call," Zenith went on, "Dr Light is ready to see you..."

"Roger," X blinked curiously.

Dashing off from their view into the forest below, the thoughts of everything that happened to this point came rushing forth again... The crushing blow to the Hunter population and the government's quiet stance about Black Talon, it all seemed too coincidental, too convenient... The noises of the brush whizzed past them as the greens and hues of life gave way to a silhouette not too far from them... His long blonde hair trailed behind him as his face hardened at the sight of them... He paused and kicked hard against the ground, trailing behind them...

"Is it the Elite already?" Zero chimed, panting slightly.

"No," X's eyes shown with intrigue, "Dr. Light called for us... He just doesn't know that we're coming in full force."

They trailed off in the fading forest as the sun seemed to settle tiredly upon the horizon. An almost blood red color was set ablaze on the horizon as a solid object crashed through the ground once more. Power radiated through the capsule as the hardened kind face of Dr. Light materialized before them...

"Welcome again one and all!" Dr Light smiled at the stoic faces, "What's wrong? Don't tell me you've all had a change of heart..."

"Not at all... We're here for the truth Thomas," Zenith delighted with a sign of extreme interest, "Why and how are you here?"

"Right... Right... Time for a history lesson then," Dr Light's smile was turned to a look of concern, "After Dr Wily's last attempt of ruling the world, me and my robotic friends decided to help rebuild the world and make it a better place to live. Across the news, a strange UFO sighting was confirmed outside of the city where my lab was. At first, I thought that Dr Wily had escaped from prison again but I was visited by a strange robotic entity that had not yet retained the name of Black Talon. He was trying to build a robotic army to the likes that the universe had never seen.

"See he came from a planet that was plagued by a virus... The people built him to save them.... Well, with the intellect they bestowed upon him, he figured the best way to get rid of the plague was to destroy the planet. Before he did so though, he stole all the technology and technological data he could. You'd think somewhere in that vast intellect would be something to instruct him to use that technology, but he was more a biologic genius than a robotics genius... So, he took what he found and scoured the universe for people to build him a robotic army. In his many travels, he enslaved several races to do so yet none could get the task done to his specifications... That's where his notoriety finally came from... To fail him, it meant certain death and he killed billions...

"He came to me with the hopes of gaining the upper hand... Mega Man, Roll, and the other robots I built, to help mankind, decided to protect me from harm... This led to their ultimate defeat... One by one, he assassinated each one... Roll... Mega Man... Protoman... Rush... Everyone... I was left all alone... He forced me to build one robot to prove my worth... but before I could get all the modifications I needed done on him... Black Talon ordered me to make another one... a robot with so much destructive power that he would have no remorse for his actions... I could not build such a war machine so I instilled in him a freewill and a pure heart... Because I was at my wits end when I completed you, X... I installed a special mechanism inside the capsule you were in and the one you were in, Zenith. The one inside yours, X, was designed to hide you from his sensors... The one inside of yours, Zenith, was designed to give Black Talon the hint that there were two robots inside of it. I shot you into space, Zenith, so that the earth would always have a protector, in their darkest hour... If X had died, you'd still be around... Similarly, I hid X here on Earth so he could hopefully live in peace but if it had to be, I'd hope that he'd stand up and cast back the evil before him...

"Shortly after my launching of Zenith, Black Talon got angry at me for working behind his back... He destroyed my lab and killed me... but before doing so, he took an imprint of my mind... He didn't want to waste such knowledge so he planned on using me as an encyclopedia for building his robot minions... When he transferred my brain into his main computer though, it took a piece of something else... my soul... so in essence my soul has been stuck inside of Black Talon's main computer for some time...

"That's why you've had so many different armors awaiting you through the years, X. Before he left to chase down Zenith's pod, I showered the earth with capsules. Upgrades to get you to the point you are now. I knew evil would constantly threaten the world so I left engrams in each capsule to talk to... The most recent ones were more though... They had more of how I think in them... This capsule is different too... This is actually a holographic representation sent from Black Talon's ship... Yes, he's here close to orbiting the planet, but don't worry... I made the last modifications to your armor, X. This armor has the power to undo the evil that was built by Black Talon...

"Step inside this capsule X and accept your destiny. Accept this armor and turn back this new force!"

A tear hung close to his cheek and his eyes shook violently out of sheer madness... Holding his fists tightly and shaking slightly, X stepped into the bright light of the capsule and shut his eyes... The warm white light engulfed his every system and penetrated deep inside of him. The fury he had felt before seemed to melt away as his very demeanor evolved before the eyes of Zenith and Zero. As the light completely faded away, X's eyes overtook a simple golden presence and his armor took on a subtle white glow. Zero and Zenith looked unto an unchanged armor design and turned to look at Dr Light.

"Don't worry," Dr Light laughed, "You got the upgrade. It hasn't finished updating your systems yet. It'll take some time before it completes the upgrades. The updates work with your repair functions... so be patient and you'll be guaranteed a great reward...

"I know you think you have no time now that Black Talon's here but I promise you that me and my colleague, Dr Wily, will stop him. I wasn't the only one that lost my life that day. Dr Wily was building you, Zero, when Black Talon came. He was at the point of turning you on when he was interrupted by him. Dr Wily somehow had gotten ahead of me to my disappointment... Using the robot he pulled from the crater of his island, he marveled at his own brilliance... It all changed though when Black Talon arrived at his doorstep to show him some of his terrifying power... Dr Wily liked what he saw when Black Talon erased his two creations, Bass and Treble, from existence with a mere flick of his wrist... He totally rebuilt you... He installed a special drive that allows unlimited potential to be possible... That's why I told you... you have no need for attachments. Each time you are nearly destroyed, your power grows... That's why you survived so long.... In the end, history wound up repeating itself in a way... The always plotting Dr Wily betrayed Black Talon and Black Talon destroyed his lab before taking a brain imprint of him also. As powerful as Black Talon is, one of you will defeat him.... soon.. very soon...

"But for now I must warn you before I'm detected... I know it's a lot to swallow but I've got plans on how to stop him. When that time comes, I will return..."

With a loud hum from the capsule, the capsule buried itself in the center of the city. X fell to his knees as he glowed with a more intense white radiance. The power jolted his every sense and seemed to burn his every synapse... On the outside, his blue armor seemed to be melting because of the new energy. Almost like it had always been there, a white armor peaked through the flaking blue... A series of red lightning streaks, down the chest, took shape as the blue armor shattered. Getting back to his feet, X's eyes strained to focus from the rush. Feeling the power surge through his body, he knew that this would take some time to get used to. All the other upgrades were easy to get used to... it was a simple download and mere seconds to do their upgrading... but this was a much more substantial upgrade... Something that X felt was going to make him an entirely different person. Zero stood there astonished by the way X looked now... The confidence X didn't have before seemed to be emitted from him now... This was a big change indeed. One worthy of getting used to... As everyone looked unto X, they knew that he could change the tides now... All he needed was time...

Walking through the forest back to the HQ, X saw Alia running up to him from a distance. She stopped in mid-run to check X's armor out and was astounded about how much he had changed. The X she knew and loved was still there but somehow he was different. His eyes burned differently this time... Alia knew something was wrong and she needed to get it out of him... at all costs.

"Tell me, X," Alia held X's hands, "Is everything ok? Don't lie to me. You've never been a good liar. I want the truth!"

"I'll be fine," X forced a smile, "Just know that what's coming... it'll be over soon and know that I love you, Alia... I have some fine tuning of this new armor to do... It's a very slow update... Though now I understand why..."

"Why's that?" Zero butted in.

"There's so much power coursing through my system," X started, his hands trembling slightly, "That if it was a quick update it would fry my systems... It's slow so my systems could adapt to it... This is an incredible power I feel Zero... I can't explain it but I know I can stop these people...."

"Whatever it is that you plan on doing, X," Zenith fumbled, "You best do it now because here they come..."

At that moment, a fireball broke through the atmosphere as Alia, Zero, X and Zenith all looked up into the sky... As the firestorm showered the air, an enormous silver ship took form and floated overhead. The massive ship, that could easily dwarf the moon in comparison, froze in orbit close to the Earth. As they stood there watching, a smaller dark pod descended to the area where Delta City stood. A chilling wind seemed to have blown in as the four Hunters shivered slightly when it touched ground... Whether it was a second notion or instinct, they had known that what they were feeling was neither fear nor doubt... but Black Talon's murderous intent...

The tension getting thick in the space, a Reploid woman came running behind them and tackled Zero from behind, which made everyone else jump.. Iris looked over quixotically at the others and turned her head curiously as they flinched...

"Why the long faces?" Iris cheered, "Don't tell me that something happened..."

"Look... near the ruins of Delta City and look in the sky," Alia forged barely into words, "H... He's here... Black Talon's here..."

Iris's eyes froze on the moon-sized mothership above them and started trembling... The thought of war breaking out sooner than she had anticipated shook her every sense... She couldn't let it wrap around her mind, for if she did, she would most assuredly faint and Zero was under the gun as it was... The frustrations were so thick that it could easily be cut with a knife as everyone stood staring into the valley below... The only audible sound to this scene was the sound of X falling to the ground writhing in pain...

The monotoned clunk jolted everyone back to their senses as they swiftly turned about to see X's armor glowing once more... As the energy once more raged forward, his arms lit ablaze with whitish flames... The armor seemed to be growing with power with each passing second as they stood looking at X. The fires extinguished as he re-emerged unburnt from the power, X's determination came to the surface once more... Making a fist with his red gloves, he looked down at the pod below him and felt a sudden twinge in his circuits that something wasn't right... He felt a disturbance in the very force of nature... as if something had broke its natural laws... as if something had violated the law of life and death...

At the landing site, Black Talon wasn't the only one to emerge from his drop pod... For, there were four mysterious robots standing beside him... The four warriors surrounding him had a long history with the heroes situated on the cliff... Now not only do they have to fight Ra's Elite, they have to contend with the might of Black Talon's Guard... As X stood up against these imposing odds, he knew that his time had come to strike against Black Talon once and for all... Yet the uneasiness that was growing inside of him grew ever more as he had yet to realize how powerful Black Talon truly was...


	6. Into The Inferno

Into The Inferno

A tail of dust whipped up as a shuttle, with an almost alien gleam, touched down and settled within the hubris of Earth. With a meticulous click, a doorway appeared almost out of thin air on the seemingly one piece pod... Four warriors stepped from within and touched the surface of yet another foreign world... In the center, a tall robotic abomination was drawn, whose appearance was truly an inspiration from Hell. His helmet and full body armor glistened with an unholy sheen in the sunlight. He, Black Talon, stepped out of his landing craft and was surrounded by the likes of his Guard. As the sun reflected off of his gold and silver lined armor, he took in his surroundings and chuckled.

"So this is Earth. I never really got to look at it last time... How quaint. Vile report!" Black Talon grinned, turning to his left.

"M'Lord... The Maverick Hunters are crippled.... and X is dead... The Elite contacted earlier that he organized a counter attack and was caught in the crossfire," Vile stammered looking unhappy, "Zenith and Zero both have been tracked to the same location. Over that ridge lays the ruins of the Maverick Hunter HQ. They're biding their time up there somewhere."

"Alas... I wish X was still around... It'd be at least sporting to make him watch as I wipe his so beloved and pathetic humans from this rock!" Black Talon's glee stretched across his face, "Right then... Now to business... Tell me that that annoying little fly Sigma has perished!"

"Our informant tells us he's been deactivated," a female Reploid swiftly replied, "We don't know where his body is though. It might be in storage for repairs. We do know that he sustained heavy damage from the last time you toyed with him."

"Ah yes," Black Talon recalled, "That's good news then Lillith... Now where is Hi-max?"

"He's already gone. He went off to round up the surviving Maverick Hunters from our first wave. He doesn't like standing still for anything," a ridiculously clad Reploid sighed, "I think he's killing each one off... I haven't really heard anything from him yet. So methodical that one is."

"Well then go find him Dynamo!" Black Talon called, "We need everyone here for what's next!"

Dynamo bowed and vanished in a whiz of light. Black Talon's lifeless eyes scanned around the landscape and turned to look at Vile.

"I think X is still among the living," Black Talon chuckled, "I have this strange feeling he's watching us right now. Call the Elite back here. It's time to finish the job."

"Yes sir," Vile grunted obediently, touching a symbol on his chest, "Elite... Come in? Damn it! Ra? Anubis? Someone answer me!"

"They're off partying in the city," a female Elite member answered giggling, "Seems like the government gave up on us... Way too easily if you ask me!"

"Well then," Vile ordered, "Vesta... Get them back here this instant! I want all eight of them present and accounted for... That's including _you_! Come back to the Maverick Hunter HQ in grid epsilon."

"Oh... Alright!" Vesta hollered defiantly, "I'll get them just give me a few. Elite out!"

"Sometimes I wish I hadn't given them those free will parameters Dr Light designed," Black Talon mumbled, "There are times I regret ever considering that it would be a good idea... Better to have well armed minions than mindless ones, I thought... I guess I was half right... I'd rather have mindless drones than drones who give me sass... I really need to rethink that free will thing... All I can do now is wait for the Elite to get their tails over here..." Black Talon stretched as the light hit his skull faceplate and crowned helmet, "I have plenty of time... This planet gave up without so much as a fight... Yet another planet under my watchful eye..."

The rustling of bushes and leaves trailing behind them, the crew of Maverick Hunters looked down from their view high above Black Talon's amassing army. A subtle chill drifted between them again as they realized that whatever plan Black Talon had was coming real soon. Fidgeting for a moment, Alia grasped X's hand to reassure her that things were alright. Automatically closing his hand around hers, X looked deeply into Alia's eyes and smiled.

"I want you to go hide," X insisted, "Soon this place is going to be overran by Black Talon's Army. Warn everyone you can. It's going to get loud and messy out here..."

Chuckling softly to himself, Zero looked up at X and realized how X would never change. He was always the soft one. Sighing silently, Zero turned to Iris.

"Same with you," Zero hinted clasping her hands, "I'd hate to lose you again..."

Both looking not too happy, Iris and Alia trampled back to the Hunter Headquarters. They gathered up whatever supplies and injured they could inside of the hidden passages, created after the first attack, and locked everything down within the base. Whatever was coming this time around, the HQ was ready. As Signas took a final look at the sun, he shook his head and flicked a switch as the base hummed and it lowered inside of the ground.

"We'll leave this to you, X.." Signas grumbled, "Just come back to us in one piece... The world needs you."

The metallic creaking surrounding them as they worked, Douglas and his crew patched holes that opened as the base lowered.

"Make sure to close those holes!" Douglas hollered, "We only have one chance and we haven't shown those bastards what we can do!"

"Reinforce the conduits," a mechanic yelled, "Give the lowering mechanism extra support!"

"Yes, that's it my crew," Douglas gleed, "Don't let them have the best of the Mechanic Corp! Transfer remaining power to holographic transponders and let's give them what they want to see!" As the final doors clanked shut and the hum of the generators cranked up, Douglas turned to his control console and breathed, "The thoughts and prayers of our race go with you my friends... Don't die..."

Across the world, the Elite was having fun with all their new found freedoms. Freedoms that they only had since the government gave up. Nothing could hold up to their newly gained freedoms and they so enjoyed torturing of the defenseless. All over the country, they were thrashing buildings, trashing cities, creating nothing but pure bedlam for the humans. People and their belongings were scattered throughout the streets as they blasted and torched whatever they saw. Amidst begs and pleas for them to stop, Vesta appeared before them and yelled at them for their total disregard of orders.

"Come on... That's enough fun. Let's get it back together and head back to our Lord." Vesta breathed irritated.

"The Great Vesta wants us to stop torturing these pathetic sacks of flesh?" laughed Anubis.

Vesta flushed pale white in a fury, that was unlike anything of this world, "You dare to mock me?! You defied _his_ orders by coming out here and you stand there mocking me?! Remember what happened to you when you betrayed him?!? You were given one last chance!"

"Enough!" Ra barked, "What're Black Talon's orders?"

"X is alive," Vesta said coolly, "He wants us to return and finish what we started."

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Geb smirked self-assuredly, "This was too easy... Finally, a real challenge!"

In a matter of seconds, they vanished from view as flashes of light surrounded Black Talon. The eight warriors lowered their heads in reverence and awaited further orders.

"Welcome back," Black Talon vexed, half angered, "I'm glad that you all still know your place after disobeying my orders. Now... Do as your Lord commands you and go turn up the heat on our friends up there. They've been watching our movements since we got to this pathetic mudball. You know what to do. Go out there and deal with this nuisance."

"We had a nice warm-up before we got here. The real fun starts now," Geb grinned half-cocked as the rest of the team converged onto the clifftop vigil.

The Elite members made swift progress through the forest to the cliff where their newest challenge stood awaiting them. Dancing among the trees and vines, the group blurred against the landscape as they swiftly made their way towards their foes.

Among the group, Vesta had the worst temperament and had the shallowest attention span. When she lost interest in things, she was oft to just torching anything in view. It was true that it could be just her wish for admiration from her Lord that caused her to do such things. _It was just all too simple. No destruction, no chaos... _ She thought oftentimes in the middle of assignment. This time was nothing different. Vesta's boredom had been piqued and nothing could quell it. Smirking wildly, Vesta snapped a finger at which a breathe of flame sparked. She manipulated it for a few moments smiling entranced by it and tossed it into the forest... She wickedly laughed at the destruction caused... As her red and gold flame-engraved armor brightened against the fire, Vesta's eyes glazed over at the sight of the fire and found herself ready for blood. The scar on her cheek ached when her bloodlust grew to this point... She could almost taste it now... The metallic taste.... The grin that she wore was replaced with an odd crazed expression. She brushed herself off from the various ash and smoldering bits flying around in the breeze. Igniting her fiery pony tail, she looked up at X with a look of pure delight.

"Guess we win. No more Hide and Go Seek," Vesta mocked, "The infamous prey at last... So this is X... Sorry... I didn't recognize you... The last time I saw you, your face was in the dirt."

"You've got to be wittier than that," X chimed in chortling, "Come on! You brought all eight Elite to wipe out the three of us? I hardly see how that's fair... for you."

"You're nothing but the game in this hunt. Enough small talk," Ra boasted pushing Vesta aside, "Submit yourself to the new Savior of this world! Your government did the right thing by submitting. Follow the example or perish by our hands!"

"I will bow to no master!" X shouted out as steam emanated from his armor. White light seemed to pour from around him as blue veins struck out against his white armor. Among flashes of blue and green light, X's vision went blurry as he finally assumed his final form. Striking out with the red lightning marks and blue fire on his armor, X's eyes refocused again. Making a tight fist, X knew this was it! The green crystal now situated in the center of his chest glowed with energy as he stood there gathering himself... A few seconds later, the now prominent figure laughed.

"What the hell are you?" Geb coughed, "You're supposed to be an antique.... You could barely hold up against us before!"

"Oh, this is nothing..." X jinxed happily making another fist, "I got an upgrade. So who here wants to test this out?"

The Elite stood looking at X from head to toe. His white armor was replaced with that of contrasting colors of red, black, blue and white... His leg armor, like his chest, had blue flames fading into white down the sides that were set apart with the red lightning streaks that led down to a crystal in its center. The sun that was now vanishing into the burning hills, shimmered against X's arm cannon as he took aim. X, with his arm cannon charging, grinned at the Elite's astonished look and blasted Black Talon's landing craft.

"X?" Zero questioned, "Do you think it wise to piss Black Talon off now?"

"I missed," X shrugged, "I was aiming at that big guy over there. I'm not used to this weapon yet. Trust me, though, it'll be fine."

"Right," Zenith chimed in, "Now what do you expect to do X? Char what's left of the world?"

"I plan to go..." X looked at the bewildered Elite and hunched over to talk with Zero and Zenith, "straight through them... "

"Sorry to sound stupid but," Zero cut in, "What the hell happened... You're totally different from before..."

"Don't worry Zero," X assured, "I'm the same fun loving X, but they have to pay for what they've done... I can't let anymore innocent blood be spilled on the account of my not acting..."

"Vengeance is never the answer," Zenith willed, "Black Talon will ultimately face his crimes but we cannot judge and execute him... That's out of our jurisdiction..."

"You forget..." X chuckled looking back at the Elite, "We're not Galactic Police... We're Maverick Hunters... We retire pieces of junk like this daily." X ran at one of the Elite members and knocked him tumbling into the others... pushing all of them off the cliff.

"Why did you do that?" Zero hesitated.

"They looked vulnerable where they were. They let us talk amongst ourselves. That was their first mistake," X inclined and looked over the cliff, "Um, watch out now you two!" X knocked Zenith and Zero aside as a ball of fire was sent at them, "What's the deal with them anyways? Ra's Elite!? Wonder what they were going for in that name..." X chuckled again shrugging it off.

The rush of thorns and the thicket of the forest pounding them as they fell down the cliff, the Elite cursed and shot randomly at X. Stumbling to their feet after their fall, they stood dusting themselves off. Mumbling words under his breath, Ra gathered his troops back up and led them one by one back up the hill. As they reached the top, the dynamic threesome was no where to be found... Swiftly looking around, they saw nothing and heard only the sounds of the birds and animals fleeing from the fire...

"X got the best of us the first time because of his transformation," Ra yelled, "Now we won't let that happen again! Will we?"

"_No!_" the Elite chimed together.

"Let's show these bastards why we're named after the Gods of old..." Vesta grimaced fixing her hair and armor, "Save X for me... He's mine! He'll burn for what he did!"

Her voice was starting to fill with rage and anxiety. There wasn't many foes that gave her this sort of problems as well as thrills. To burn up some time, she was made her presence known by torching more of the landscape. It gave way her position but she needed to vent. As she let off her frustration, X had learned of their splitting up to track the three of them down. Following the first presence he felt, X went deep into the forest. X looked for his moment to strike as he lurked in the shadows. Even further, she went, into the forest to a place that was totally besieged by the raging infernos. Vesta turned and looked directly at X.

"No sense on hiding now!" Vesta joyfully called, "I know you've been following me! You're getting on my nerves... What do I have to do to draw you out? You've been cornered."

"Nothing... I'm right here!" X stepped forward from the brush, "I have to make you pay for all the people you've killed..."

"Oh please," Vesta interjected, "You make it sound so melodramatic! I don't know which is more pathetic... The humans and Reploids who begged for their lives or you standing there bellyaching about them."

"Enough of this," X uttered taking out his newly updated X-saber, "Let's finish this while we're alone..."

"You sure are quick to see your funeral," Vesta hymned smiling, "but if you want... Let's go!" Vesta vanished in a whiz of blurring movements. X stood looking for her but was knocked off of his feet by a drop kick. Vesta reappeared before X and taunted him, "Is that it? Come now... Dr Light's legacy has to be better equipped than that!"

X felt the anger rising inside of him and could see nothing but the blind fury of his X-Saber being rushed toward Vesta as again she vanished. He followed her every movement and slashed at her just seconds too late. Laughing hysterically at X, she sat on a tree that was ablaze and watched him. Realizing what he was doing, he tried to focus his mind. X's temper cooled off and he kicked off of the ground to meet Vesta eye-to-eye. Vesta's laughter ceased and she quickly shot off. Charging his arm cannon, he aimed carefully at the brush Vesta was going to land near. Blasting it with his charge, the area was blown apart. Vesta had to think quick and tried to avoid it by grabbing onto a branch.... It was already too late for her because X was already in midair with his saber drawn producing the final slash. Parting her in half, X hit the ground and looked up as the parts hit the ground and shined. Looking around X noticed the fire's intensity increase and turned to leave... The murderous aura of Vesta was still there.... He turned quickly and soon realized something... Vesta was regenerating... As the fine fibers outstretched across Vesta's broken form, she stood up and laughed at X's ignorance.

"Silly boy," Vesta haunted, "Do you even know who Vesta is? She's the Roman Goddess of Fire!" Vesta shook her head as she looked at X, "Do you even realize what you're dealing with? Even if you defeat me by some miracle, there's seven more even more powerful than I!"

X's forehead was damp with sweat from the heat. His systems were still weakened from his last upgrade. The raging forest fire before him was sending his body into stasis. Hesitating, he looked for the best way to handle this... He had yet realized that the Elite could regenerate.... Trying carefully not to charge to full blast, he aimed his cannon at the flames that grew distorted from the energy...

"Well thanks for the tip," X's eyes fixed on Vesta, "Time for some target practice." As he finished, he aimed and blasted four shots that vaporized the forest around them, "Why don't the bad guys ever shut up? They always talk trash even when they reveal a weakness... That's just one thing I'll never understand.." X looked at Vesta ridiculously.

"Er... I think it's time I made you eat those words X!" Vesta snarled, the anger bubbling to the surface, "You might have stopped the fire, but you're far from defeating me! You forget that there are many ways to harness fire."

"Oh come on, Vesta," X imitated her confidence, "You're the Great Goddess of Fire! You can beat an old outdated piece of machinery. You can take a nice little jab on my jaw even!" X exposed his jaw and pointed.

"You! _You! Oh, you will pay!_" Vesta devilishly grinned and writhed in anger, "_No one_ mocks me! I mean _no one_"

The ground started to split and shake from under their feet as a shield of fire surrounded her. She dashed at X with her fist exposed and punched him square in the jaw. X's head flew back and he turned his head grinning, "I think I struck a nerve," X quipped wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, "Nice jab but a little lacking for power. Where's all that power that was there before? I admit that you've got some moves there but you really need to refine them! I guess that's why you're evil and I'm not..." X finished his comments as a fireball was flung at his head, "That wasn't nice... If I wasn't toying with you, I'd take that personally!"

Her eyes shot open and fear drove down her spine. _How can this be?_ She thought to herself... _He's an outdated piece of junk..._ These words struck Vesta hard... The confidence that she exuded before seemed to vaporize. _Was he just playing? How could he have withstood one of my best shots? I was the one who knocked him down and out the last time..._ _This can't be.... It has to be a trick... _The thoughts of everything made her livid. Her eyes set on X and she smirked again, self-assured of her power. _No one could match an Elite for power. _The shield slowly started enveloping her completely as the earth quaked and lava poured from underneath their feet.

"The Elite are not your plaything, X. You're going to pay for dragging our clan's name through the mud," Vesta sounded angrily punching the ground..

The forest was ablaze again as the lava oozed from the craters around Vesta. Narrowly avoiding a burning tree, X dashed away as it struck the ground beneath him. He looked at Vesta like she was an idiot, "Vesta? Why are you standing in lava? Are you trying to exfoliate that nasty face of yours? Or are you just trying to get me sweating?"

Vesta could not hide her anger anymore. She erupted in a whiz of blurring movements that X countered each time. Panting from her anger, she stood in the lava again and concentrated as a red light encompassed her.

"You stand right there X!" Vesta frowned as the red light shot streams of lava up around her, "I've got a present for you..."

"Alright, I'll stand right here and wait for you to finish your ridiculous move," X jostled as he sat on the ground outside of the lava's reach, "Hurry it up. I still have seven more of you to brutally mangle and I have a time table to manage."

"This will be worth your time X," Vesta poised as the lava started forming a molten barrier around her, "I'll show you my true form.... I'm much more comfortable in this form..." Focusing deeply, the barrier seemed to explode and unleash an attack on X.... A flash of heat seared him to his knees as he looked up into the face of Vesta again, "No pith remarks? Nothing glib to say? It's over, X"

She smiled as the fires highlighted her adapted armor. At her hip, she wore a sword that bore several glowing incantations on its hilt. Her armor looked much akin to something from the Old Testament. The scar on her cheek seemed to have melted away and her ponytail was replaced by a wide dancing sheath of fire. His internal systems were gauging temperatures well beyond his tolerances as parts of his new armor started to melt. Laughing maniacally at X's lack of smart comebacks, Vesta walked up, kicked X to the ground and put her foot on his neck and drew her sword.

"This game is over X," Vesta smirked once more and pressed the sword closer to his throat, "Your world will burn to ashes at our hands. You, who fight for the humans.... When they've already betrayed you..."

"I was born out of a need," X half-smiled as the sword drew a bit of blood, "This world needs a hero. Even if I'm defeated here, someone else will rise up and defeat you."

"I doubt it," Vesta cackled raising her hand to her forehead, "You really don't understand anything, do you? We're the immortal force of Black Talon. Anyone who doesn't concede to our will, will fall forever into the abyss."

"Excuse me.... if I don't come up with another smart comeback," X coughed, "I seem to be caught in a sticky situation."

"Goodbye," Vesta leaned into her sword, "Even for a failure, you managed to get me into my second form. Dr. Light's Legacy couldn't even scratch my armo... _Impossible..._"

As Vesta looked down, the blade that was stuck to his throat was now pierced into the ground. X had vanished... She strained to find him.... He just disappeared. Above her, the form of X seemed to vibrate against the horizon as a golden hue overtook his armor. She strained against the powerful aura he emitted but could distinguish the word "Legacy" on the green gem situated in his chest.

"Don't tell me..." Vesta hesitated, "Dr Light's Legacy.... It really meant..."

Before she could realize what happened, X jammed his beam saber into her armor and cut off her head, "What is this power... My systems are damaged rather badly from this bout but this second wind... Legacy? What the hell is this Legacy?" X traced the words on his chest and turned to see Vesta's decapitated head laying where the lava once stood. "I have to learn to harness this power before the next battle... Next time, things might not be in my favor..." He shook his head and turned to leave but he was frozen in place. Behind him, X heard an explosion that would normally force his body to the ground.... Somehow he had to move from this place... Everything froze as Vesta's body exploded once more and a crystal appeared in midair... X touched the crystal as a socket opened in his armor... He inserted the crystal as a flood of information jolted him off of his feet... His vision grew blurry as an intense heat surrounded him.... He awoke several moments later completely healed with a new fire insignia on his armor... Taking a deep breath having almost been destroyed by just one of the Elite, X stood looking at the crater that used to be a forest and the tears struck him hard... As his fists clenched and the tears hit the ground, someone hummed to life in his ear piece....

"You've defeated one of Ra's Elite! Well done. You now can control the element of fire... With your new mastery over fire, you can heal yourself with it and draw powers unlike anything you've ever dreamed of... I'm sorry to rain on your parade though," Dr Light's voice grew saddened.

"What do you mean?" X insisted.

"Well you might not realize this now," Dr Light continued, "But Vesta was telling the truth. She was the weakest out of the eight Elite..."

As this knocked the breath out of X, he turned to face Zero and Zenith standing behind him. He had not the courage nor the heart to break it to them that he had just beaten the easiest of the Elite. He stood there momentarily looking down at Vesta's head and kicked it aside as he walked off with his friends... Ready for his next challenge...


	7. Hope and Light

Hope and Light

The winds steadily picked up blowing debris and ash across the landing site. A crater laid where the once stately pod stood as Black Talon walked amongst the remains of his craft and kicked a few of the larger pieces aside. His once glistening armor, as well as his once placid temper, was now tarnished from the explosion. Cursing in tongues that were not of this Earth, Black Talon's fury seemed to be limitless as he raged through the valley.

"I demand another drop ship immediately," Black Talon hissed on his communicator, "To hell with Earth. I will burn this wretched rock to smoldering ash. X's beloved humans will be another footnote in my conquest of this universe. He will rule the day that he ever angered me."

Storming back to his makeshift throne, he continued to curse and writhe as the forces above the Earth forged a new drop ship. It wasn't long now before his ultimate plans would come to fruition. Things were finally set in motion that were planned long before X's predecessor...

Not too far from the landing site, though, the remaining Elite gathered at another crater, which was once a raging forest fire. The explosions had long since died away and the smoke had cleared as they stood surveying the landscape. _Vesta should have made quick work of X and his body should be here... somewhere_, they thought to themselves. Yet no matter where they looked, they couldn't find a single fragment of X. Coming quickly to another clearing, the Elite found Vesta's head and exploded body.

Each of them took this differently but Ra seemed to have taken it personally. Slamming his fist into the ground, he started to lose his calm demeanor.

"He will _pay_ for this! I want X found! I want him alive!" Ra's face twitched with a nightmarish grin, "When you find him, bring him here! He's going to answer for this! He's going to answer for it _today_!"

"Yes Sir," Anubis sounded, pleased with the development.

"We will make quick work of the Hunter," Geb bowed feigning piety.

A flash of light dissipated as the seven warriors vanished to find their foe.

X had done an infinitely stupid thing by defeating Vesta first... Truth be known, there was a relationship that brewed between Ra and Vesta. A certain chemistry that just clicked when they cleansed a planet. The way that they both lit up when they torched civilizations left the others clueless and afraid. Some would argue that what they shared could almost be explained as romantic. Now that she was gone, Ra's cool headed mannerisms took a more violent turn, mirroring Vesta's. As Ra envisioned a painful end for X, the hourglass seemed to have been turned toward the countdown until X's funeral...

A good distance away from this, our three heroes stood plotting their next move, unbeknownst of Ra's actions. X had finally started to adapt to the new powers coursing through his armor. The burning feeling he felt in his chest had subsided and he looked forward to his next series of tasks. They had seven more Elite to contend with. Even worse, they had an enraged Black Talon to deal with. Though, no matter how they tried to rationalize it, things were going from bad to worse quickly. They now had the power to defeat the Elite but it would do no good if Black Talon's forces turned their anger towards the inhabitants of Earth. Zero and X knew of this when they decided to fight. Despite their anguished thoughts, X and Zero knew that this was the only answer left.

"There's no course of action left here," Zenith pleaded looking at X, "If we continue this madness, it won't stop with just the destruction of this planet... You must rethink what you're doing! There's no way for us to win this fight."

"I thought I'd never say this," Zero added pushing Zenith aside to see X, "but... I agree with Zenith on this somewhat. I don't care how much you think you have changed. I know you can't stop all of them. They're too powerful... It's too much to handle alone! You need help. We might get in the way but we're here to assist you, bro."

"I...." X spoke through gritted teeth, "_must._" X trailed off as red light condensed around him. At the same moment, fire-like wisps of energy shot up around Zenith and Zero and streamed around them, "This is for your own good. I _must_ do this alone... Too many of my good friends have gotten hurt or killed on my behalf. I will not lose anyone else. I'll bring this war to an end and make sure you have a world worth inheriting... Goodbye, my friends... Be sure to tell Alia that I love her..."

X turned to look at his friends again and half-smiled as the energy welled and condensed around them. A crackling fire coiled around Zenith and Zero as they stood surrounded. Standing side by side, Zero and Zenith looked around them as the wall concentrated into an orb that suspended them in midair. They could feel no heat emanating from the flames but could see it altering the atmosphere around them. As they floated in midair, they could see the field around them seem to vibrate. As the vibrations died off, everything melted away and they found themselves in Lifesaver's clinic some several miles underground. The last thing that they could see, before everything went dark, was X turning away from them and disappearing.

"X!" Zero and Zenith shouted as they fell against a series of pods in the clinic.

"You've opened my eyes, Zero. He _is_ going to need some help. He's going to need a lot more help than us at this rate," Zenith sighed turning to Zero.

"That self-righteous son of a bitch," Zero howled, "Of course he'll need help! Who the hell does he think he is? Nothing can be saved through his sacrifice..."

"I know," Zenith cut in picking up the stasis pods that were knocked over, "He's drunk on his own power. How are we going to get out of this? It doesn't look like he's left us with much options as to what we can do next. This base is completely sealed off from the world now."

"We can do nothing but wait," Zero forced out and cursed silently, " I just hope that stupid bastard doesn't get killed before we figure a way out of this."

With Zero and Zenith safely inside of the HQ, X started to plan his next course of attack. In his mind, he rationalized that a frontal assault would be pointless because the remaining Elite would just be drawn into the battle. A seven to one battle wouldn't end well for him. He would have to draw them off one by one and go all out against them. It had to be all or nothing. Nothing else would work with these numbers.

No matter what he thought, his fighting instincts were overwhelming his logic and drawing him to attack the strongest of the group first. After these instincts kicked in, came the logic. With their defeat, Black Talon's powers would be cut down dramatically and this would leave a power struggle within the rest of the ranks. Yet with his limited powers, he lacked the necessary confidence needed to take it on. He knew that he couldn't control his new armor nearly as well as the remaining Elite. The key laid with the Legacy that was entrusted to him by Dr. Light. It wasn't going to be easy but he had to find out how to control it. That new found knowledge would turn the tides in this war and would also prove to be its main ignition point.

As the war continued to rage on outside, Zero and Zenith had their own sticky situation to get out of. As they managed to sneak past Signas and the rest of the Hunters, they tried to find a way out of the Headquarters. The teleportation tubes had been deactivated, which made teleporting from the base impossible. They hated to admit it but they were stuck. X had really done a number on them.

Sighing lightly and cursing once more, Zero turned a corner sharply to avoid being spotted. They had managed to make it all the way to the Maintenance Corps avoiding everyone on their way. It was difficult to find a way out of this predicament without any room to think. Zero and Zenith had to find a way out of this. If they were caught, they knew that the Hunters would unwittingly reveal their position to the enraged minions above. They couldn't chance the idea of having the last cell of Maverick Hunters wiped out. As they made sure it was clear, Zero turned to Zenith to give the all clear, only to find Douglas looking perplexed at them.

"Didn't we just send you two to save the world?" Douglas looked at them confused.

"Yeah, X had just taken out an Elite. In the aftermath of that battle, we had a disagreement about what our next move should be. X has it stuck in his mind to sacrifice himself for this planet. He encased Zenith and I in this weird barrier and sent us back here. I'm not sure how he did it but the bastard is going to get a whooping when I catch back up with him." Zero gleamed with a haunting expression.

"Interesting," Douglas scratched his chin and went on, "I didn't think it would be possible to teleport into this base without the tubes. He must've forced you to revert back to the clinic, like you would if you were critically wounded. After we nearly lost you and X during the last Sigma campaign some years back, we came up with a way to teleport you into the sickbay. Now we do it with all our special forces at your grade of clearance."

"That is quite perplexing. I have a similar function," Zenith growled, "I'm not sure who told him about this but we need to thank X properly for this."  
"Amen," Zero smirked, "I like your style, bro. I'll loosen him up and you can rough him up a bit."

"Well, if it's true you were forced here," Douglas enlightened, "It'd be possible to send you back to where you were if we reversed.... It's brilliant! You guys go back to the clinic and I'll fix up a device to send you back."

"Uh," Zero stammered, "Will do. Let's go Zenith."

Checking for any visitors, Zero and Zenith vanished from view and danced between the crowds avoiding any contact with anyone. The race back to the sickbay was just as taxing as it was when they first started. They both were sweating heavily, exhausted from the ordeal, when they finally made it through the doors of the clinic. At about the same time, Douglas came running in behind them with an air of complete victory about him. Toting what looked like a pair of lightning rods attached to a generator, Douglas grinned and set them into place turning his machine onto its lowest setting.

"Ohhhh," Douglas joyed happily, "X didn't just transfer you here. He used superheated plasma to warp the space-time fabric. Most wondrous. I didn't know that X could do something that complicated. I'd hate to say it but I'm impressed."

"Right," Zenith blinked, "Is it possible to send us back?"

Douglas brightened up and smiled, "Well, technically, since he warped space-time, we should be able to connect the two points for a split second with this device. I've always wanted to test this thing out.. I designed it after reading up..."

"Yeah, yeah" Zero cut in, "Let's just get this over with."

"Alright," Douglas sullied, "I got a bit carried away for a moment there." Douglas grabbed and held the two rods out walking them around the room, changing the settings on his device at random intervals. He proceeded around the room slowly, paying close attention to the space around him. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to strike out as he made his rounds. After his third pass by the rejuvenation capsules, the rip was made visible. Douglas' annoyed glare lightened up and he stuck both poles into the floor near the distortion. Turning to face Zero and Zenith, he grimaced in accomplishment and went on, "All you have to do is stand between the two rods here and I'll generate a low wave quantum pulse. It should be enough to both fix the rift and send you back. Kill two birds with one stone."

"Will we feel any discomfort from this?" Zenith quirked a brow standing with Zero between the two rods..

Douglas' eyes widened as he looked at Zenith confused again, "I can't really say. I've never done this sort of thing with anything living before."

"Wait," Zero held his hands out, "You're telling us that you've never successfully tried this out before now..."

With a click and a feeling that they were pushed from a ten-story building, Zero and Zenith found themselves plunged through the portal. As they fell through the darkness of space-time, they could see the point that they had aimed for. It became more and more visible. The forest clearing drew nearer to them as their escape became guaranteed. Upon sending a foot forward through the tear, it widened enough to let the two easily pass through. Zero and Zenith blinked a couple times in disbelief and turned to see the anomaly subtly disappear amongst the rustling leaves.

"Well, I'll be damned. That bastard knew what he was doing," Zero smiled and chuckled.

Zenith checked his armor for chinks and laughed, "Wow, that Douglas really knows his stuff."

"Don't mind me, my friends. Allow me to welcome you back," Ra gleefully grinned drawing himself from behind the thicket, "I'm glad you're both here. It makes our job much more easy."

"_Damn it!_" Zero and Zenith groaned in unison.

"Well," Ra turned to look at the other Elite appearing around him, "Anubis? Why don't you take our guests for a walk."

"Yes, my liege, as you command so shall it be," Anubis smirked pushing them through another clearing, "You two will serve to be the bait to draw X out of hiding. How I'd love to send both of you to the next world right now... but we need to deal with X first... Black Talon has his own plans."

"I take it you found your friend," Zero smiled, looking for a moment of weakness, "This must be why you wish to get X now. He didn't pique your interest until he won against Vesta. Now, you're worried something's different."

"We're a force not to be trifled with, Hunter," Anubis kicked Zero forward, "Either get moving or your companion will find a couple corpses here. I personally don't care what Black Talon or Ra want. I take great offense that trash like you think you can take us on."

"You, who take great pride in destroying sentient life," Zenith grunted, "You compare _us_ to trash? This is why you're going to lose."

"Enough talking," Anubis drew his sword and pushed it against Zenith's back, "We'll torch your world. We'll kill every human, Reploid, whatever gets in our way. Now unless you want this slaughter to start with you two, keep moving."

As they were marched along in the ever-deepening forest, Zero and Zenith could not believe the futility of their escape. As they looked about, they realized that the number of enemies had increased since they first started. No matter what opportunity came now, they knew that it wouldn't work to get away from their captors. Surprisingly enough, Anubis was adept at keeping everything in line and left no detail to ponder. Every angle was covered in the formation that Anubis created. It was pointless to try to escape now.

Getting to the end of their trip, Anubis kicked Zero and Zenith to the ground and bound them with energy rings. Assigning the others to hide, Anubis kept guard over our two heroes and awaited word from Ra. He knew it was only momentary before X was found. Time was finally on their side this time around.

Drawing himself deeply into the forest, away from Anubis and his minions, Ra saw his moment to finish things with X. With the capture of his friends, Ra knew very well that X would be easy prey. He could finally exact his revenge against the bastard who took her away. These thoughts drove Ra ever close to the brink of madness. The latent anger and rage, that he had often held back, had now forced its way to the surface. The desire for blood was overwhelming his reason as chilling laughter echoed through the forest.

As the resounding echoes drifted his way, X could not stop thinking about the danger he put his friends in when he took out Vesta. _I have to finish this fight on my own._ X kept trying to quell his conscience. _This is the only way._ He continued forward through the entangled life forcing his thoughts aside. However, something just didn't feel right. A nagging voice rung in his ears, _Your friends are in danger._ His eyes jolted open and his mind started racing once more. _It can't be. They're safe._ He shook his head and tried to calm his thoughts. _You're wrong. You handed them over to the Elite._ Panicked breathe forced its way from X's chest as he quickly started to run the opposite way. X backtracked to the point where he left his friends and looked for any signs of a struggle. As he stood there surveying the area, a murderous presence arched through X's body.

"Come on out," X shouted, "You can't hide yourself when your blood lust is so strong."

"_Yes_, I have found you," Ra muttered under his breathe, "Black Talon requested you alive but he never said anything about the state you had to be in."

"What are you saying?" X said as he blinked, "I can't hear you. Did the killing of Vesta cause you to lose your mind?"

A haunted smile stretched across Ra's face, "I haven't lost her. You're mistaken. She's fine... Yes, fine."

"You've fallen to the level of a Maverick, Elite," X smirked, "This ought to make retiring you easier."

"Yes, Vesta. I will let you have the final blow," Ra asserted as he grinned menacingly, "I enjoy your company too. Let's take care... Huh?" Ra started looking around confused. At the sight of the fire insignia, his eyes shot open and madness set into his features, "Vesta? I can't hear you anymore..."

Noting his mental status, X took a step back and drew his saber, ready to defend against Ra. Laughter started filling the void between them as Ra too drew his saber. Ra's blurred form vanished before X's eyes. Before he could defend, the saber glided through the air and was jammed into his chest plate. Ra reappeared kicking X to the ground and laid his foot on his neck. The maddened face of Ra looked feverish as he worked at trying to erase the fire insignia off of X's armor. Grinning once more and plunging the sword deeper, Ra carved into X's power supply and leaned into his foot starting to crush his throat. The error messages started to repeat in X's mind as his systems could no longer cope with the damage. Ra's almost stuttering form froze there as X's eyes grew dark. Broken and almost lifeless, X pushed Ra aside and crawled to a corner of the clearing... His systems malfunctioning and power almost gone, X laid motionless...

As he lay drifting between life and death, another more sinister voice seemed to force its way through X's head. _You're so weak. I'll take care of this for you. _A menacing look appeared on X's face as his eyes glazed completely over of all emotion. The brilliant green gem in his chest, once showing determination and kindness, was overtaken by a reddish hue. As the ground started to crack from the weight of his new powers, an intensely dark aura coated the area and distorted the very reality around him. Not the least wiser of his timing, Ra saw his moment to attack and tried to end X's life. He took up a tighter grip of his saber and aimed to claim X's head.

"You took Vesta's head," Ra started murmuring to himself, "I'll take yours."

X disappeared completely from Ra's view, "I don't think so." Slashing the blade clean of Ra's blood, X's newly grayed eyes scanned Ra, "Your movements are dull, Elite. That one slash is all it took to defeat you."

"It can't be.... Vesta..." Ra stuttered as he slowly drifted to the ground, "My repair features won't..."

"No, they won't," X smiled wickedly, "I severed the repair functions from that area. You will indeed die, pathetic creature."

"I..." Ra forced out temporarily regaining his sanity, "won't die this easily.... For Vesta's memory, I will defeat you, demon."

"Indeed, I am a demon," X cackled pointing his sword at Ra's neck, "You have my gratitude for awakening me. Allow me to express that by taking your head, much like I took Vesta's."

"This chill," Ra analyzed the situation and spoke up, "This dark feeling. You're definitely not the same person as before. I can't let my guard down." Ra brandished his saber and disappeared. Rushing toward each other with sabers drawn, X and Ra clashed, creating an energy wave that sent trees rocking. The sounds of fighting could easily be heard in the distance as X and Ra dueled. The bout drove back all the natural sounds in the forest and further altered the very flow of life in the forest. This above all else drew the remaining five Elite out of where they were and made them rush toward the scene...

"Your sword is very pointed now. No sense of regret or a fighting spirit," Ra said beginning to focus more, "Have all those years of viral contamination caught up with you, X? Your immunity wasn't guaranteed to you after all."

"Heh... Another useless speech," X retorted as he sent his blade into Ra's shoulder, "For someone that claims to be of a God's power, you lack the necessary stuff."

"It doesn't matter how much you cut me," Ra held his shoulder and chuckled, "You lost the moment you handed your body over to that virus inside of you. And for the matter of my power, you haven't seen what the God of the Sun can do."

Seeing his chance for victory, Ra took the initiative to change the tides more toward his favor. With a flash of light, X stood before Ra momentarily blinded. All Ra needed was a moment to do so as he swiftly moved against his foe. Using his chance to finish the fight, Ra slashed into X's armor once more aiming to pry the fire crystal out of his armor. Regaining himself, X jumped away from Ra's fury. As X felt the searing pain of the saber's blow, time came to an almost standstill. Closing his eyes, he stood enshrouded in darkness once more...

_"This isn't what I wanted. You will lead this world to destruction. Give me back my body!"_

"Not a chance," viral X vexed, "You don't have the power anymore to hold me back. Your conflicted circuit protected you this long. Your friend here destroyed it, allowing me to take control."

_"This is still my body, my mind. You might hold sway over my emotions of hatred but.... you will never control my heart, my soul. By that power alone, I bind your tainted power. I no longer am in need of it or you."_

"You will regret this," viral X coughed as his movements froze, "You can't bind me forever. When I'm free once more, I will take great pride in erasing everything you loved from this world."

As the moments seemed to tick forward once more, Ra's frozen blade withdrew from X's chest again. X's eyes refocused and the life returned to them. Motioning his hand quickly, X grasped Ra's sword and shattered the blade. Mending his wound with a touch of fire, X winced in pain and took a step back, completely drained from his internal struggle.

"Your presence has returned," Ra laughed and looked at his broken sword, "And here I thought I was going to have some fun for once. Your viral form is truly a breathtaking sight."

X faintly smiled and sheathed his sword, "You can call it providence that I was able to make it in time. I must have luck on my side today."

"On the other hand," Ra jinxed walking forward, "your luck is going to change."

"I don't think so. I know your every trick,." X replied shaking his head.

Ra threw his head back cackling, "Don't think you know my every move."

Before Ra could strike once more, X shut his eyes and allowed his other senses to fill the gaps left. Hearing the grass underneath Ra's feet, X jumped back and dodged his attacks move for move. Quickly jumping right to left, forward to backwards, X took aim and slashed removing Ra's right shoulder. Flicking his sword dry, X opened his eyes and saw Ra's perplexed visage. He knew he had to finish this fight and quickly. He had to move against the clock as Ra could... and would regenerate... No matter the consequences for his actions, X had to tap into the Legacy somehow and take this guy out.

Changing his fighting stance, X stood defensively looking at the moment closely. Standing there gathering his thoughts, X let down his guard but for a second when he heard it. As he quickly turned to defend, it was already too late. Ra had not only regrown a new shoulder and arm... but also grown an exact duplicate of himself.

"You look worried X," both Ras delighted, "No need to worry. As soon as we get Vesta's crystal, your end will be guaranteed. We promise not to make this short. We plan to draw this out as long as we can." A nefarious expression peaked across both faces as they rushed toward X. He stood there realizing how futile it was to fight against such an imposing force. Dropping his sword and readying to go out for one last stand, his mind became clear. Everything started to move slowly around him. Steadily streaming from around him, a power exuded from his body as he moved forward ready to counter his opponents. A radiant glow pulsed around him as the gem in the front of his chest read, _Legacy Mode Red._

His systems surged with power as streaks of reddish light danced around Ra and his double. Whitish and blue flames sparked around as X appeared between them. Before either Ra could attack, he grabbed the cloned Ra's saber and flung him into the other. A calm and determined look marred itself across X's face as he concentrated. Drawing his hands together, a brilliant orb of fire gathered in his palms. Slowly, he aimed with deadly accuracy and delivered the supposed final blow.

As the power continued to condense around him, X's form started to glaze over with heat smoldering the environment around him. Both the original and the clone looked up to see a steady stream of flame starting to condense around X.

"Vesta..." Ra stuttered raising a hand towards the flames, "You came back for me..."

His eyes grew dark and Ra fell to the ground singed, barely conscious. Grasping his saber again, X sped towards them to finish them. _I have to be quick about this... No room for failure.... _He thought to himself. However, before the final blow, tiny fibers stretched across both of Ras' bodies and released a shockwave that knocked X backwards. Radiant light emitted from Ra as he revealed his true form. Smashing the barrier of light around him, he looked at X yearning for revenge.

His once golden Egyptian-style armor was replaced with platinum accented armor that seemed to vibrate against the atmosphere. As the massive foe radiated the area with white light once more, Ra took in a deep breathe and stepped forward to end the fighting once and for all.

"I never thought I would have to show this form to you," Ra laughed deeply, "You Hunters are a prideful bunch. You just don't know when to just die."

X's form started to degenerate into a blaze of shapes as he smiled, "You have gravely misinterpreted my power, Elite. This is why I _forced _you to reveal your true power. You don't have any clue as to the depths of my potential."

Grinding his teeth in anger, Ra pummeled X into the ground with his immense fists. As the light intensified around Ra, X knew that he had ran out of time. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the forms of the remaining Elite coming to watch his would-be demise. Closing his eyes, X waited for the moment... The crying face of Alia was frozen in his mind.. _I can't let this happen to her again._ His thoughts were frozen on Alia and how she would never recover from this. Retracing his every move, X knew that this was his moment. _No matter what sort of hell I have to go through._ X's mind became clearer and clearer as the gem brightly glowed. _There is still a task that I must do._ Green and red light started pouring forth from the gem. _There is still hope. _A new look formed across X's furrowed face. Confidence returned to him as he grabbed Ra's fist in midair.

"There's still hope," X grinned as his eyes flashed with the flames of courage, "I cannot allow you to continue this. You've pillaged and you've killed all for the might of your master. You did so without remorse or an ounce of pity. This is the..." X threw Ra into the air, "This is _the end_!"

Gliding through the air, Ra managed to land back on his feet as X stood resolute before him. The wounds he had received from Ra's fisticuffs burned away as the fire symbol seemed to resonate with activity.

"Now how about that," Ra chuckled, "You surely know how to take a beating until the end. You just don't know when to quit."

Laughing once more at X's second wind, Ra looked at X with a wide grin and tried to wipe the defiance off of X's face. This was Ra's final wrong move. An energy wave emitted from X to the likes that Ra never felt or seen before. His fist seemed to move slowly towards X. It almost froze in midair. Closing his eyes, X grabbed his fist and kicked up on his elbow shattering the armor and mechanics. Ra stumbled a couple times from the intensifying pain and stood for a moment focusing his powers for another attack. There was no point now... It was over...

White and blue flames trailed behind Ra as X plunged a smoldering fist into his chest. The heat still emanating from him, X stood triumphant as he clenched Ra's crystal and pulled it from his chest..

"I hope this last bout has shown you the light," X hymned to Ra, "May you find Vesta in the next world..." X studied Ra's astonished look and shut his eyes, shaking his head slightly. Drawing energy into his palms, X stepped into an attack that sent Ra's immense body crashing to the ground lifeless. Sighing lightly, X took one last look at Ra and shook his head again. Inserting the light crystal inside of his chest, X vanished in a whiz of brilliant light. As the body exploded, Ra's head was flung into the group of Elite watching with awe at what had just transpired... The remaining seven Elite had been taken down to six.

As the seconds ticked by, X could sense the danger that was brewing for Zenith and Zero. Even though his systems felt like they would fry from the sudden surge of power, he forced himself forward and focused on Zero and Zenith. In a glaze of white, X disappeared across the horizon to their aide. X could sense them now... He wasn't too far from where they were being kept. As he stepped within the forested area, Anubis stepped forward and smirked welcoming him to their meet and greet.

"We've been expecting you, X" Anubis laughed, "I'd hate to admit it but you impressed me. I can see why Black Talon is so interested in you. No doubt about the explosion. You just defeated Ra...."

"Let my friends go, Elite," X cut in, "I don't have any time for this."

"But, your friends were just entertaining my guests," Anubis quirked cackling, "My guests have been dying to meet you once more."

"I bet they have..." X took a step back noticing the positions around them.

Footsteps echoed through the clearing as X was once more surrounded. _This couldn't be.... He was trapped.... _He had to try anything to get out of this. His systems weren't accustomed to the overwhelming powers developing inside of him. Carefully retracing the moment in his mind, X made the biggest gamble this day... Drawing his sword, he stabbed the ground which shot streaks of light through the earth. An eruption of bright light surrounded the area as X dashed in to collect Zero and Zenith.

"Nice try but I don't think so, X," Anubis sidestepped into X's path and hesitated focusing his eyes, "You won't win with such a cheap trick... I take it that your systems are close to going into stasis lock from the internal damage done to you by Ra. Seems to me like you're wanting to make this quick...."

"Heh.... I wasn't planning on winning," X jostled with a grin and kicked Anubis aside, "There's more to this than winning. As for my systems, you'll find out firsthand how well they've adapted once I take care of a few things."

Lifting his sword into midair, X slashed a few shapes into the air that bound Anubis. Using Anubis' moment of disorientation, X walked up to the energy rings that bound his friends and shattered them.

"I won't take your life," X tilted his head towards Anubis, "I just want to humiliate you in front of your peers."

X disappeared with his friends as Anubis' crew fought to free their master. They had once more won a temporary victory against the Elite. Although, they had managed to get out of the hands of Anubis and his crew. Things were soon to heat up once more and take an interesting turn which was not foreseen. One that would soon spin this war spiraling uncontrollably to its climax...

On the cliff overlooking the forest, the three Hunters gathered once more to plot what was to come. Having just severely diminished Black Talon's fighting power, they could now worry about greater threats. The looming threat over the lives of humans was just too much to overlook anymore. They had to turn their attention towards securing the cities and protecting the innocent. No matter the cost, they would have to do whatever they could to free them from their captivity. X and Zero didn't have to agonize on this choice because they had to do this on a regular basis.

However, before any plan could be sprung, a series of metallic clanks echoed in the distance.

"We meet again X," Vile smirked looking at the group, "Well now... There's Zero and you must be Zenith. How charmed I am that you guys still function! Now it's time for us to go for a walk... Nice and slowly..."

"The mighty X caught and beaten by the likes of us," Lillith mocked as they surrounded them, "The Elite could not contend with you but we could. It's such a sad, sad sorry tale."

"We've got you now X," Dynamo jinxed, "There's no looking back now... You're in our hands now and we're going to take good care of you for we have a surprise... Hi-Max come here for a moment."

"Yes Dynamo," Hi-Max vexed coming out of the shadows, "What is it you need?"

"Hi-Max!" X gritted his teeth, "It wasn't enough you bastards cloned both my best friend and his girlfriend... You had to resurrect this abomination!"

"Now X," Dynamo frowned, "That's no way to talk to an old friend! Hi-Max would you escort these prisoners down to Black Talon?"

"Yes," Hi-Max looked at the three heroes standing before him, "Let's get going! You've got to come with me. You have no choice."

"You know what I say to that guys?" X uttered shaking his head at Hi-Max and the others.

"What's that?" Zero and Zenith whispered to X.

"Let's get those bastards," X shouted as he pulled his saber to and slashed it a few times in midair, "It might be uneven odds but it sure as hell beats six on three."

"Good idea," Zero chuckled, "I was getting bored with standing on the sidelines!"

"We finally get to fight? Zenith sounded off astonished, "Finally! I get to work out... Man I thought this would never happen...."

"You don't have the power or the guts to take out Black Talon's Guard," Vile grinned, "Things are different this time around, my old friend."

"You wanna bet old pal?" X sassed looking directly at Vile, "You're all ghosts of the past that should never be. This is the end of the line for all of you!"

As Zero, Zenith and X stood with their sabers drawn, they knew that this was a feigned attempt at defeating Black Talon's Guard but they had to try it.... They could not risk capture by Black Talon at all costs, especially not with the Elite out there. As the sweat of the heroes and villains hit the ground, they stood ready for the hell storm that was soon to come. For the battle that was soon to come would change everything. As Black Talon's face lit up with delight, he knew X was going to come through with his end. All that was needed was a few more critical elements removed from the equation, both the Elite and Guard.... The ultimate double cross was soon to come and at the cost of several lives.... In the end, this would spell the inevitable defeat of all forces of light and goodness... As the light fell from the sky, only time would tell what the Fate's would deem a worthy future...


End file.
